


Return To Sender

by Eastofthemoon



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012), Toy Story Series (Movies)
Genre: Adventure, Christmas, Crossover, F/M, Family, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-05 18:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eastofthemoon/pseuds/Eastofthemoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s a Christmas of firsts. It’s Jack’s first Christmas celebrating with the Guardians and it’s Andy’s toys’ first Christmas with Bonnie.  However, plans go haywire when Woody and the toys find themselves accidentally in North’s workshop.  Oh, and did we mention there’s also a monster on the loose as well?  So much for a laid back Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Letter

**Author's Note:**

> So, yes, this is a ROTG/Toy Story crossover. I've been working on this last summer and thankfully, I do have this story written out, it's just in the editing process.

North held his hands steady as he lowered his ice pick to the sculpture. “A few more taps,” he said. “And with this, it is finished.”

Suddenly, the office door flung wide open, startling North and causing the pick to smash straight into the center of the ice sculpture. North stared in horror at the small hole that now pierced the middle of his ice model horse. 

He tried to hold his temper before turning around to where Phil stood in the doorway. “Knock before entering?!” North exclaimed. “Why is that hard to remember?!”

Phil ignored North’s annoyed expression and instead waved a piece of paper in the air and he yelled in his yeti language.

“Problem letter?” said North as he took the paper from Phil. “Let me see.” North skimmed the letter and then raised a baffled eyebrow. “Has he been good?” North asked as he rested his finger on the letter.

Phil gave a nod.

North threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “Then what is problem?!”

Phil’s eyes narrowed and he began to grumble and wave his own hands in the air.

North shrugged, still not understanding what the issue was. “Bah! They do not make toy any more? We make new one, da?”

Phil gave a doubtful look as he folded his arms over his chest, unimpressed.

North sighed and turned back to his office. “Fine, fine, if you are that worried I will make toy myself.”

The yeti still looked skeptical, but gave a grunt in reply that North knew to mean “Sure, but if there’s trouble it’s your fault.”

North shook his head as Phil shut the office door. Phil meant well, but he could be too much of a worrywart at times. 

“Now then,” North muttered as he reached into his toy file. It was quite an old toy the boy was asking for, but lucky for him, North had kept a file on every toy created for just such an occasion.

He sat in his chair and read over the file. “Not hard toy,” he muttered to himself as he skimmed the file. “Will be done before lunch.” North then went to work, humming with glee.

It had been some time since North had had the chance to make an actual toy instead of an ice sculpture for the yetis to copy and make themselves. He hummed to himself as he dug through the drawers of his toy making supplies.

“Let’s see, he will need boots, talking box, pullstring, ah!” He shook a finger. “Material for hat! Could not be complete without hat!”

He then set the supplies on the desk and started his creation. North quickly cut out the pieces of the toy’s body and sewed them together, pausing briefly to gently tuck the talking box in its chest. North then proceeded to paint the toy’s face and hands, using his own special blend of paint guaranteed to not chip for at least thirty years.

As the paint dried, North cut out the material for the hat and sewed it together. He took one more glance at the file to be certain he had everything before attaching all of the pieces together. North beamed as the toy lay on his desk complete, but there was one final test he had to do.

North picked up the toy and pulled the drawstring. 

“THERE’S A SNAKE IN MY BOOT!” it cried loud and clear.

North laughed. “Perfect!” he declared as he held the toy up. “You are perfect cowboy toy.” He grinned at the toy with its painted-on face full of hope. North half expected it to come alive then and there, but he knew better. 

There were some toys that did gain life once they entered a toy store, or even while they were in their factories, but not North’s. The toys from his workshop would only come to life once they were in the hands of their chosen child. He had always found it gave his toys a stronger sense of loyalty by doing so.

Granted, this was an occurrence that not even the child itself knew about, but knowing these little magical secrets was one of the benefits of being a Guardian.

Satisfied, North reached for a box and delicately placed the new cowboy toy inside. Before he put on the lid, North smiled and told it one last farewell. “You shall be good toy for Andy, I feel it. In my belly!” 

North chuckled to himself and set to finish wrapping the present before getting back to his ice sculptures.


	2. The Sack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bonnie plays in the snow, Bullseye goes monster hunting and the toys get accidentally kidnapped.

Years later...

“Mush, Slinky! Mush!” Bonnie cried as she tugged on the reins of the skipping rope she was using as a harness. Her toys were right where they should be. Slinky was acting as the lead dog, with Buttercup right after him. Even if Buttercup was a unicorn, he made a good sled dog.

Then, next to her in the wagon sat Woody and Jessie with the Potato Heads and Buzz taking up the rear. They made the perfect team for exploring the arctic. “Oh no!” Bonnie exclaimed as she leaned to her right. “Watch out for that snow monster!”

Bonnie ducked her head as she imagined the snow monster had swung his huge claws. She then gasped and quickly pulled on her skipping rope. “Halt!” she called and peered over the sled.

While there was nothing in front of her, in Bonnie’s mind, they had just stumbled to a frozen lake. “Hmm,” Bonnie thought to herself. “We’ll need fairy light to fly across the lake.”

Bonnie hastily climbed out of her wagon and the snow crunched under her feet. “Come on, Slinky,” she stated as she scooped up her dog. “We’ll go to the magic cave and get some.”

Bonnie’s definition of ‘magic cave’ was the garage. She wiped her feet on the mat before she entered to find her dad hunched over the lifted hood of the car. Bonnie’s mom was also there as she was holding the same flashlight Bonnie was looking for directly into the car hood.

“Honey, are you sure you don’t want to take it to the mechanic?” her mother asked, sipping a mug of tea she held in the other hand.

Her father sighed and wiped his forehead. “Sweetheart, where on earth are we going to find a mechanic this late on Christmas Eve?” 

Bonnie forgot about getting the flashlight as she drew closer and watched her father reach for his toolbox. “Besides,” he continued. “It’s probably the muffler, it wouldn’t be worth the money.”

Her mother sighed. “If you say so.”

Curious, Bonnie inched closer. "Daddy," Bonnie asked as she stood on her toes to peek into the car hood and lifted Slinky so he could see as well. "What are you doing?"

Her father grunted and reached for a wrench. "Just fixing the car."

Bonnie frowned as she tried to pull herself up her father's leg for a better look. "Is it broken?"

Her father wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Naw, it's just a gremlin. Honey, could you pass me the flashlight. Might have better luck if I hold it."

"What's a gremlin?" Bonnie asked as her mother tapped for her to move aside.

"It's an expression, Sweetheart," her mother said passing her father the flashlight. "It means it's a small problem."

"Although," her father said as he raised his head and grinned at Bonnie. "My grandpa told me gremlins were little critters that loved to get in machines to mess them up."

"Really?" Bonnie asked with her eyes wide. She suddenly gasped and hugged Slinky to her chest in protection. "Do they hurt toys too?"

Her father laughed and shook his head. "Naw, they don't want your toys, Honey. They just like causing a nuisance for no reason."

Bonnie sighed in relief. "Oh, that's good.” She hugged Slinky to her chest. “I wouldn't want them to worry."

"Speaking of which," her mother said leaning against the car door and drinking her mug of tea. "You can play for a few more minutes, but then I want you to clean up your toys to get ready for church."

"Aw, but we're in the middle of exploring the arctic."

"You'll have plenty of time to play with them tomorrow, including your new toys from Santa."

Bonnie brightened. "Do you think he'll bring that sleigh I asked for? The wagon is good, but I need a real sleigh to explore with."

"Sure he will," her father said. "And who knows, maybe if you're lucky Jack Frost will make it snow for you too."

Bonnie giggled and began to sing "Jack Frost! Jack Frost!" as she raced out of the garage.

Once Bonnie left, her mother raised an eyebrow. "Jack Frost?"

"A lot of the kids in the neighbourhood have been talking about him," Bonnie's father said with a shrug. "Did you know that it's him that makes it snow enough to close school?"

Bonnie's mother laughed and kissed her husband on the cheek. "You are so who she gets that imagination from."

Bonnie's father laughed and went back under the car's hood. "Well, let's just hope this old imagination is good enough to fix this car too. Gremlins or not."

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Unbeknownst to Bonnie's parents, the very same Jack Frost was sitting invisible on top of their roof and had a clear view of where Bonnie had been playing. He had landed just as Bonnie entered the garage and happened to notice the toys come to life.

The Mr. Potato Head toy rubbed up against Mrs. Potato Head for warmth. "How much longer are we going to be out here? It's freezing!"

The little cowgirl turned from the front of the wagon. "Come on, it's not that cold."

"That's easy for you to say!" said the unicorn as he poked his head over the wagon along with the horse toy. "You don't have your hooves buried in inch thick snow."

Jack chuckled quietly to himself. It was rare for Jack to see toys come to life outside. Most parents insisted children not bring their toys out during the winter, and the few kids that did rarely left them alone long enough for them to bother coming to life. 

The spaceman toy stood and crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't think we'll be out here much longer. It'll start getting dark soon."

The cowboy toy who had been protectively gripping the side of his hat sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, because I'm certain this wind is out to get my hat."

The cowgirl toy laughed. "Woody, it is not trying to get your hat."

"It's tried to knock it off three times so far!"

"It's only been two," said the Mrs. Potato Head. "You're being paranoid."

Jack smirked. "We'll see about that," he muttered and waved his staff to sent a playful blast of wind at the toys. The toys gave a startled gasp as the cold wind blew over them, but it tried to particularly push at the cowboy toy. 

"Ack!" the cowboy yelped as Jack tried to pry the hat from the toy's finger, but the toy held on tight until the wind ended. "You see!" the cowboy gasped. "It was trying to steal my hat!"

"No, that was playing," said Jack to himself, more determined. "Now, I'm trying to steal your hat." He set another blast of wind at the toys, however it was then that Bonnie reappeared in the yard.

"Bonnie's coming!" cried the cowgirl as they all dropped back to their lifeless forms. Jack noticed the cowboy gave a wince as he was forced to fall down and let go of his hat. Jack grinned and had the wind blow the hat around before letting it land in front of Bonnie. She jumped, startled, but then frowned as she picked it up.

She stroked the hat thoughtfully, the same way Jack had seen Bunny carefully painting some of his eggs. Bonnie was calculating something, and gave a startled gasp. "It must be Jack Frost."

Jack jumped and held his breath. Even though it had almost been a year, he still got excited whenever he heard a child say his name.

The girl grinned madly as she hugged the hat and lifted her slinky dog to her face. "He must be trying to steal the magic spell Woody has inside his hat!"

Jack stared. He hadn't been expecting that. "What?" he muttered.

"Hurry, hurry!" The girl giggled and went to place her Slinky dog back in the front where the unicorn and horse were. "We got to get away before he tries to steal it again!"

It took everything Jack had not to burst out laughing as he dropped from the roof and landed in the snow. The girl was practically inviting him to play with her. There was no way he was passing up this opportunity.

Jack made sure he was still invisible before he approached. Normally, he’d let kids see him, but in this case it was more fun to let Bonnie think it was the wind. Besides, from what he’d seen of her before, Bonnie was a shy girl. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her off.

Jack approached as Bonnie went to climb into her wagon, but still held the hat in her hand. "Mush, Slinky! Mush! We got to-"

Jack yanked the hat from her hand and held it in the air, but he moved it around to make it seem the wind had caught it again. Bonnie laughed in delight and went to leap after the hat. "Oh, no you don't, Jack! Give it back!"

Jack then leapt like a frog as he waved the hat around in the air and let Bonnie chase after him. Bonnie laughed as Jack teased her with the hat around the yard. Then, when Jack could tell Bonnie was getting tired of the game, he led Bonnie to a large snowbank. He stood still long enough for Bonnie to make one last jump, but this time Jack let go of the hat.

Bonnie clutched the hat as she stumbled into the snow. She held up the hat in triumph. "Ha! I beat you, Jack! You won't get Woody's hat this time!"

_I wonder if I should be making one of those "Curses! Spoiled again" speeches?_ Jack thought to himself in amusement. He stole a glance to where the toys were still sitting. _I bet that cowboy is freaking out on the inside._ Who knew he found someone that was as much to tease as Bunny was?

"Bonnie!" Jack heard the girl's mother called. "It's time to come in!"

"Okay!' Bonnie called back and went to collect her toys. "See you later, Jack!"

Jack smiled and gave back his own wave. It was about time he went to check in on North anyway. It was his big night after all.

0808080808080808080808080808080

Mr. Potato Head wrapped himself in one of Bonnie’s old baby doll blankets. “Honestly!” he exclaimed. “Why couldn’t we be playing jungle explorers? Or warm tropical island explorers?”

Hamm rolled his eyes as he and Dolly watched Bonnie leave with her parents from her bedroom window. “Aw, quit complaining. A little outdoor time won’t kill ya.”

“Hey, I don’t mind going outside,” Potato Head exclaimed, shaking a fist. “But I prefer it being warmer than freezing my spuds off weather.”

“Come on, Dear,” Mrs. Potato Head said as she patted his head. “You’ll be less grouchy once you warm up.”

“So,” Buttercup replied as he approached and took a seat. “Does that mean you’re cold all the time then?”

“Ha ha,” Mr. Potato Head replied. “Real clever.”

Buzz chuckled and glanced over to where Woody was still sitting frantically looking over his head. “Is it cracked? That wind didn’t crack it, did it? Plastic can’t handle the cold too well.”

“Woody,” Buzz stated and he moved closer. “For the last time, your hat is fine.”

Woody frowned, but gave a sigh as he slipped his hat back on. “Well, can you blame me? Did you see how that wind was acting?”

Jessie frowned as she sat to lean against Bullseye and stroke his nose. “I got to admit, it was strange how it suddenly yanked that hat out of Bonnie’s hand.”

“And maybe it was me,” Slinky said thoughtfully as he sat next to Woody. “But I could have sworn I heard someone laughing, and it wasn’t Bonnie.”

“Really?” Rex cried as he and Trixie looked up from their game of checkers. “You mean, there was a ghost?!”

“Oh,” Trixie replied, sounding intrigued. “Maybe we should get a ghost trap like in the movies.”

“Oh, this is just what we need,” Dolly replied as she and Hamm climbed off the windowsill. “Ghost stories on Christmas Eve.”

“Actually,” Mr. Pricklepants said as he stood and raised his arms. “The Christmas Carol was intended to be read as a ghost story, so it is not that far fetched to tell ghost stories on Christmas Eve.”

“Say,” one of the peas asked as they unzipped from their pod. “What is Christmas anyway?”

“Yeah,” replied the second pea, annoyed. “We keep hearing Bonnie talking about it, but no one’s told us what it is yet!”

“Oh, that’s right,” Dolly said as she folded her arms and turned to Woody. “They were Bonnie’s birthday present last spring.”

“So, it’s their first Christmas,” Woody concluded as he rose and went into leader mode. He kneeled so he was at eye level with the peas. “You know how on Bonnie’s birthday she got a whole bunch of new toys?”

“Like us?” asked the third pea curiously.

“Exactly,” Woody continued. “Well, tomorrow is Christmas and Bonnie is going to be getting a lot of presents, especially toys.”

“Really?” asked the first pea. “From who? Her grandma like we did?”

“Well, probably,” Jessie chimed in. “But Bonnie will also get gifts from her parents and Santa Claus.”

“Santa Claus?”

“You know the big red guy you’ve been seeing on tv lately?” Dolly continued. “That’s him.”

“Oh!” said the second pea. “But he brings toys? I thought he just sold soda.”

“He does more than just bring toys,” Woody continued, smiling warmly. “He has a whole army of elves that makes them.”

“Okay,” said the third pea skeptically. “Now you’re making it up.”

“We’re not, we swear,” said Buzz raising a hand. “His elves make the toys, and then Santa goes to each house on Christmas Eve to deliver them.”

“So, to put it bluntly,” Buttercup continued. “We’ll be getting a whole lot of new toys tomorrow.”

The peas exchanged intrigued looks and then turned to look at the others. “So, were any of you guys delivered by Santa?”

“Well, that issue is up for debate for almost any Christmas toy,” Hamm explained. “See, Santa likes pretending that some of his gifts come from the parents themselves, and most Christmas toys don’t come alive until the kid unwraps them.”

The other toys nodded and Dolly continued. “Most toys can remember waking up in the store or when they’re first made, but no toy has ever woken up in Santa’s shop or has seen him.” She took a seat next to Jessie. “So, while it’s possible, a Christmas toy can never be one hundred percent certain they came from Santa.”

“Well, except for Woody of course!” Slinky exclaimed as he straightened his posture. “We know for certain he’s a Santa toy.”

Hamm and Mr. Potato Head rolled their eyes. “Oh, please, not this story again!” Hamm snapped.

“Yeah, we hear it every year!” agreed Mr. Potato Head.

“Whoa, whoa,” asked Buttercup as he raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

Woody coughed and gave a nervous chuckle. “It’s nothing, but Slinky has always thought I’m a Santa toy-”

“I don’t think!” Slinky stated firmly. “I know for a fact! It all started-”

“Come on, Slinky,” Woody replied gently. “No one wants to hear that old story.”

“I dissent with that assertion,” Mr. Pricklepants replied sharply. “There are those amongst us who have not heard this tale.”

“Yeah!” said the peas in unison. “We want to hear it!”

Woody looked to Buzz and Jessie to support, but they just gave defeated shrugs. Woody raised his hands in defeat and took a seat on the other side of Bullseye. “Fine, go ahead Slinky.”

“As I was saying,” Slinky continued as he got himself comfortable. “I remember it like it was yesterday. I was Andy’s first Christmas gift, so I saw everything from the chair he plunked me on.”

“Andy had just finished opening Hamm and Potato Head and thought there were no more gifts.” Slinky then leaned his head towards the peas. “But then, Andy’s mom saw there was one more gift under the tree and she was right puzzled.”

“Why?” the peas asked. 

“Cause I heard her muttering to Andy’s dad that she never remembered wrapping it, but sure enough it had Andy’s name on the tag. So, she gave the gift to Andy, he opened it and there was Woody!”

Slinky pointed to Woody who gave a sheepish grin. “Andy was some excited, he scooped Woody up and refused to put him down for hours.”

“But what makes you so sure he is a Santa toy?” asked Mr. Pricklepants.

“Because, Andy’s parents never did learn who gave Woody to Andy and the tag itself said it was from Santa.” Slinky laughed. “It was like something out of a Christmas movie.”

“Wow,” the peas exclaimed and looked at Woody in awe.

“Come on, Slinky,” Woody replied, blushing a little. “I was probably a surprise gift one of Andy’s aunts left behind.”

“Nope, I feel it in my gut,” said Slinky proudly. “Yer a Santa toy Woody, and that’s a fact.”

Woody coughed as he stood. “Well, Santa toy or not, we’re going to have a big day tomorrow with a whole bunch of new toys coming in.” He clapped his hands. “So, let’s make sure everything is order to greet them.”

“Right, right,” Hamm said as the toys began to head towards their assignments.

“You know,” Rex said as he helped Trixie clean up the checker board. “I don’t remember where I came from, so maybe I’m a Santa toy!”

“No, you’re not!” Mr. Potato Head exclaimed. “You were a get well gift from Andy’s Uncle Sam when he had his tonsils taken out.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.”

Woody laughed to himself as he began to make a checklist.

However, as the toys began preparing Bonnie’s room, the side door to the garage opened. A clawed hand wrapped its fingers around the door as it hissed and looked into the yard. At top speed, the creature attached itself onto the drain pipe and climbed up to the top window. 

The creature gave a delighted chuckle as it used a claw to pry open the window that led into the attic and invited itself into the warm house.

0808080808080808080808080808080

The wind blew Jack all the way to the North Pole where he landed on the ice and slid around to the front. At the last moment, Phil opened the door and stepped aside to let the young Guardian slide inside.

“Thanks, Phil!” Jack cried as he entered and gave a wave. Phil gave a grunt as he shook his head and shut the door. Jack laughed. He still hadn’t figured out how Phil knew exactly when he was approaching the doors, although it wasn’t something he was complaining about. He preferred to not collide with the doors when he slid on the ice.

He turned and the scene before was exactly as Jack had pictured. Every single Yeti and elf was on the move and scrambling for every last double-check. It was chaos, but the fun kind. Jack grinned as he stepped aside and weaved through the crowd until he spotted North giving orders to a group of yetis.

“Belinda, check on reindeer and give them warm up run!” North exclaimed at each yeti. “Turk, go to candy cane storage and get five hundred more, or Germany will run short. Mark, make sure elves are staying out of kitchen. Jack, you-”

North blinked and laughed. “Jack!” he scooped him into a hug. “You are early! I told you not to appear until tomorrow.”

Jack shrugged. “What? And miss the traditional holiday chaos?” He leaned on his staff. “Besides, I thought I should drop in and see if you needed an extra hand.”

North chuckled and wrapped an arm around Jack’s shoulders as they walked. “No hand needed, everything is right on schedule.” 

They walked into the runway where Jack saw a couple of yetis were loading the sleigh with sacks upon sacks of gifts. “Toys are done, wrapping is done,” North continued. “And I am even thinking I may break new record this year and finish early.”

Jack glanced up to the presents and felt a wave of uneasiness, but tried to hide it with a smile. “Yeah, but I was thinking that maybe an extra set of eyes might be handy,” Jack stated slowly as he leaned against the sleigh. “You know, in case you run into some trouble.”

North raised a bemused eyebrow which indicated he had just had this same conversation with someone else. “As I have already told Tooth, Sandy and Bunny, him in particular three times.” He placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I have everything under control and,” he raised a finger. “Including off chance Pitch decides to try something.”

Jack gripped his staff. He had a feeling the other guardians had already asked North and it wasn’t like Jack blamed them. After the disaster of last Easter, the last thing anyone wanted to risk was North’s Christmas run getting ruined.

Granted, the last they had checked Pitch was still cowering in his hole and it was unlikely he would try to attack North tonight. Still, it couldn’t stop them, and especially Jack from being paranoid.

North seemed to sense Jack’s uneasiness and his eyes softened. “I have yetis put extra protection on sleigh, and have created about two to three back up plans if anything goes wrong. It will be fine, I promise.”

“If you’re sure,” Jack replied reluctantly.

“Of course I am! I am Santa!” North laughed and wrapped an arm around Jack’s shoulder. “All you have to worry about is to be here on time Christmas day, for annual party.”

Jack smirked. He couldn’t hide that it was something he was looking forward to. In the past, he had spent Christmas by himself, trying to amuse himself by making it snow where he could. This year though, he had an actual family to celebrate it with.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how drunk Sandy gets on eggnog,” Jack said as he twirled his staff. “Assuming what Bunny tells me is true.”

North laughed. “Believe me, that is only tip of glacier.”

“I think you mean iceberg, North.”

“Point is,” North continued. “Tomorrow will be Christmas to remember.” He patted Jack’s shoulder. “Nothing will go wrong.”

Jack smiled and found North’s confidence quelled his unease. North was right, Pitch wasn’t a threat and Jack knew North would take every precaution. Christmas tomorrow was going to be awesome, what could possibly change that outcome?

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It was late at night on Christmas Eve and everything and everyone was where they were supposed to be. Bonnie was asleep in her bed and sleeping happily with Dolly. Most of the other toys were snoozing in the toybox except for Woody, Buzz and Jessie who were still awake and hadn’t gone to bed yet.

The only other toy outside the toy box was Bullseye. Bonnie had placed him by the door and told him to keep an ear out for Santa Claus in case he accidently came upstairs. The horse knew that wasn’t likely to happen, but he preferred to sleep by the door anyway. He usually enjoyed being snuggled up next to Woody while he slept, but now and then he liked to have extra space to stretch out while he slept. Bullseye stirred enough to turn to his other side and have his face towards the door.

He whinnied happily and was set to go back to sleep. He then heard a hiss. Bullseye cracked opened an eye and listened. He heard it again, a very soft hiss that reminded Bullseye of a snake. 

Troubled by what he was hearing, Bullseye fully awoke and pushed the door ajar with his nose. He glanced up to Bonnie’s parents’ room and saw no one. However, upon turning towards the stairway Bullseye froze.

It was hard to see in the darkness, but something was standing at the top of the stairway. Whatever it was, it was the size of a large cat and it continued to hiss as it headed downstairs to the living room.

Bullseye’s eyes widened in alarm. Whatever the creature was, it was definitely not Santa.

Meanwhile, well away from the door, Woody sat in thought as he stared out of Bonnie’s window into the clear night sky. The Sandman had finished his round of delivering his dream sand to the kids so all the golden clouds that had filled the sky were gone. 

No toy had ever seen what the Sandman looked like. He seemed to remain high above the clouds where no one could see him. Some nights, the toys had tried to stay up in case there was some chance he would be flying lower so they could have a clear look at the man. However in all the years Woody had been alive, they had never seen any sign of him except for his sand, so he doubted that was going to change anytime soon.

Still, catching a glimpse at the Sandman was not the reason Woody was still awake. Woody glanced down at his boots.

Bonnie had written her name on his foot, but she had left Andy’s name scribbled on the other. Without thinking, Woody traced his fingers over the letters.

He wanted a chance to collect his thoughts. Tomorrow was going to be a big change for Woody. It would be their first Christmas with Bonnie, but it was also their first Christmas without Andy.

"You know," Woody raised his head as Buzz climbed up on the window ledge, continuing to speak. "I'm fairly certain the protocol is for everyone to be asleep on Christmas Eve."

Woody gave a laugh and Buzz sat next to him. "Naw, last I checked it only applies to kids, so I think we're safe." He began to mindlessly finger the bottom of his boot again.

"He's fine, Woody," Buzz said, showing Andy's name on his own boot. "It's not like Andy brought us out of the toy box for those last few Christmases."

Woody sighed. "I know. Well, I know that logically, but still-" he shook his head. "You can't say it doesn't feel weird." Andy hadn't brought them out for Christmas, he hadn't done that for years. Yet, that hadn’t stopped the toys from sneaking out to see what new gifts Andy had gotten that year or just to spy and see what he was doing.

Buzz nodded. "Jessie and I were talking about the same thing, but it's not like it’s something we can't handle."

Woody chuckled. They had been through worse, way worse. Oh, all the trouble and scraps they had gotten into. They could fill a million books. "You're right, but you know my first memory is when Andy removed the lid of my box and picked me up." 

The image were forever burned in his memory, no matter how many years passed. Andy's excited grin, the boy scooping Woody up and hugging him to his chest. Woody had only been alive a few minutes then, but he knew it would be the best feeling he ever had.

Woody leaned against the window frame. "I can't deny Christmas is a bit extra special to me for that."

Buzz sat up and stared out the window like he expected to see Santa's sleigh at any moment. "You still don't believe you're a Santa toy?" He glanced back to Woody with half a grin. "I would have to agree with Slinky that the evidence does point to that."

Woody rolled his eyes. "Buzz, I think I would know if I was a Santa toy."

Buzz raised an eyebrow. "You realize you're saying this to a toy that woke up thinking he was a real space ranger?"

Woody scoffed. "I just don't think it matters all that much, I'm still Woody."

Buzz patted Woody's shoulder as he climbed to his feet. "True, and I will forever be Buzz - Bullseye?"

"Um....you're changing your name?"

Buzz shook his head and pointed. "No, Bullseye is standing near the door."

Concerned Woody rose and saw Bullseye gave worried whinnies as he stared out into the hallway. "What is he doing?" Woody quickly climbed down, Buzz following as Jessie approached them looking concerned.

“Guys, Bullseye is-”

“We know,” Woody replied and gestured for them to be quiet while they followed. The last thing they needed was to accidentally wake up Bonnie.

“Bullseye,” Buzz called out softly. “What are you doing?”

Bullseye turned his head and tilted it towards the hallway.

Woody exchanged a confused glance with Buzz and Jessie as he took a peek into the hallway. “Um..there’s nothing there, Bullseye.”

Bullseye tucked his head underneath Woody’s arm and gave a frustrated whinny and continued to gesture to the stairway.

Jessie raised an eyebrow and he looked out. “Um...you’re talking about the living room?”

Bullseye nodded.

“Perhaps he’s worried that Santa isn’t going to come.” Buzz said.

Woody sighed. “Bullseye, that’s silly, you know he comes every year.”

Bullseye shook his head and continued to look to the stairway.

Jessie chewed her lower lip. “Look Bullseye, whatever is you’re worried about, it’s going to have to wait.” She glanced up to Bonnie’s bedroom clock. “Santa’s going to be here any second, and he’s not going to want toys down there.”

“She’s right,” Woody agreed and he began to tug on Bullseye’s saddle. “So, let’s go to sleep and we’ll take care of it-”

Bullseye narrowed his eyes, and slipped from Woody’s grip, darting out into the hallway. 

“Bullseye! Get back here!” Woody hissed.

“This is completely against Christmas Eve procedure!” Buzz agreed. “Get back here this instant!”

Bullseye paused, shook his head and started to climb down the stairs.

“Bullseye!” Jessie screeched.

“Will you chattermouths hush up!” Mr. Potato Head snapped as he lifted the lid to the toybox. “Some of us are trying to get some shut eye here!”

Dolly wiggled out from Bonnie’s arm and jumped to the ground. “Guys, what’s wrong? You’re going to wake up Bonnie.”

“Bullseye’s gone down to the living room,” Woody said waving his arms.

“Why on earth would he do that?” asked Mr. Pricklepants as the other toys climbed out of the box.

“We don’t know, he’s acting funny,” Jessie replied.

“Uh oh,” said Hamm as he shook his head sadly. “It’s mad horse disease, I knew it would happen one day.”

“That can’t be it,” said Slinky. “Something must have spooked him.”

“Well whatever the reason, we have to get him back here,” said Buzz. “Santa’s going to be here any minute.”

“Right,” Woody agreed and clapped his hands. “We have to act fast, who’s coming to help bring back Bullseye?” Woody would prefer to keep the group small, but considering how stubborn Bullseye was being, he might need as many hands as he could get.

“We’ll go!” Jessie said as she and Buzz both raised their hands.

“Oh! I’ll go!” said Rex. “Maybe we’ll get a chance to see Santa.”

“Yeah, I’ll go too,” Hamm replied. “This sounds too crazy to pass up.

“I’m in,” said Slinky as then turned to Mr. Potato Head. "What about you?"

"Oh, no," said Mr. Potato Head as he eyed the hallway. "This is just asking for trouble. There is no way that I'm going after that crazy horse-"

Mrs. Potato Head tapped his shoulder and glared. "Go. With. Them."

Mr. Potato Head stared back with a blank expression and then sighed. "Yes, dear."

“Now that that’s settled,” Woody declared as he opened the door. “Let’s move, we don’t have much time.”

“Be careful,” Buttercup warned as the group left.

Hamm gave a mocking smirk to Mr. Potato Head as they walked towards the stairs. "You are so whipped," Hamm remarked as they ventured into the hall.

"Can it, Porkchop!"

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Bullseye was relieved once he made it down the stairs. He always had find those steps too steep for his legs. He gave a snort as he entered the living room and sniffed the ground. The creature had to be here, but where?

Bullseye narrowed his eyes as he looked around. Near the presents? Nope, nothing suspicious there. Under the coffee table? He peeked and shook his head. Nope, still no monster. However, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. Bullseye whirled around in time to see the giant snowman that sat next to the fireplace shake slightly.

Bullseye gave a determined snort as he marched forward. He was not going to let this creature-

“Grab him!” Jessie cried suddenly as she, Woody, Hamm and Buzz dogpiled onto Bullseye and pinned him to the ground.

“Target secured!” Buzz declared.

Bullseye snarled as he tried to break free. “Sorry, pal!” Woody said as the group rose, but they all kept a solid grip on his saddle. “This is for your own good!”

“Come on! Come on!” exclaimed Mr. Potato Head as he pointed back to the stairway. “Let’s get back to the room before anything else happens.”

“Hey look,” Rex said as he climbed on his toes to glanced over the coffee table. “Bonnie got chocolate chip cookies instead of gingerbread.”

“Rex,” Hamm hissed as they pulled on Bullseye. “Get your tail over here and-”

Suddenly, the toys heard a loud thud from the roof. “Uh oh,” Buzz said. “Did anyone else hear that?”

“It’s Santa!” Rex cried. “Oh! This is so exciting!”

“You won’t be thinking that if Santa sees us and gets mad,” said Slinky. 

Woody chewed his lower lip. There was no way they would make it back up the stairs before Santa arrived. They then heard more movement from the rooftop.

“Quick!” Woody said as he pointed ahead. “Everyone behind the couch!”

The toys instantly followed the order and dragged a reluctant Bullseye behind the couch. Once safely hidden, Jessie, Woody and Buzz glanced around the side in time to see a pair of black boots hanging in the fireplace.

The toys held their breath and the boots landed and a red figure wiggled his way through the fireplace. He beamed as he looked around the room and dusted the soot off his coat. “Easy as cake,” he said as he adjusted his hat and then turned to yank his sack free.

Bullseye wiggled his way through as he looked over Santa. He was far bigger than he imagined. His coat was red, but it was far longer than Bullseye had seen in books and he even wore a Russian boyar hat that Bullseye recalled seeing in Andy’s encyclopedia.

Santa stretched his arms and grinned as he spotted the plate of cookies on the table. He rubbed his hands with glee and munched on a cookie. “Oh! Fresh baked today! Those are best,” he muttered aloud with a laugh.

None of the toys dared to even move until Slinky whispered in awe, “So, that’s Santa?”

“Wow,” Rex breathed in amazement. “He doesn’t look anything like those soda pop commercials.”

Hamm rolled his eyes. “We need to cut back your TV time.”

“Guys, shush!” Woody hushed as he watched Santa pause and glance around. His eyes narrowed, but then he gave a shrug before he finished his glass of milk.

“Now, then,” he declared clapping his hands and humming as he reached into his sack. “A bright red sleigh for Bonnie,” he stated as he brought out a child’s sleigh with a huge bow on it.

“Oh my gosh,” Jessie whispered. “Bonnie is going to love that.”

“Right, and as soon as Santa leaves, we get out of here and head to her room,” Woody stated.

The other toys gave a nod, except for Bullseye. While the toys were distracted watching Santa fill Bonnie’s stocking, Bullseye was staring at the snowman. His eyes twitched as he saw a shadowed figure sneak around the corner - and he stared in horror as the creature laughed and crawled inside Santa’s sack.

Bullseye looked back aghast to Woody and the others, but they were still preoccupied watching Santa. Bullseye narrowed his eyes. It was clear somebody had to save Santa and it had to be him.

He stomped on Woody’s foot and felt guilty as he heard him jump in pain. However, it had startled Buzz and Jessie enough for him to break free and dash forward.

“Bullseye,” Jessie whispered, but he could hear from her tone she was dying to yell. “Get back here!”

Bullseye ignored the command and silently walked behind Santa as he was putting in a few candy canes in Bonnie’s stocking. Once he was certain he wasn’t going to turn around, Bullseye crawled inside the sack.

Back at the couch, the toys stared in horror.

“Yup, the pony’s gone crackers,” Mr. Potato Head muttered. “It’s official.”

“W-what do we do now?” Slinky asked as they now fearfully watched Santa top up Bonnie’s stocking.

“We’ll have to drag him out,” Woody said, crawling beneath the coach. To his relief, the small Christmas ball he had seen roll under there from when Bonnie had decorated the tree was still there. He grabbed the ball and showed it to the others.

“Okay, once I throw this that should distract Santa long enough for us to get into his sack and snag Bullseye.” He held the ball over his head. “Ready….1….2...3!” He tossed the ball and it landed with a tinkle as it bumped into a wooden reindeer near the chair.

Santa froze and looked around alarmed. “What?” He narrowed his eyes and looked around. Woody then signaled for the toys to run.

The toys ran as they all watched Santa peek into the hallway. “Strange, I could have sworn-” he muttered as Woody lifted the end of the sack and dove in.

“Bullseye!” Woody called. It was hard to see in the dark sack, but he clearly heard the horse give a snarl. “Gotcha!” Woody cried as he grappled onto Bullseye’s rear end. “You’re coming with-”

Woody was cut off as Bullseye was tugged at the other end which surprised him. The horse had never been this strong, it was almost if something was pulling on Bullseye’s other end.

“Come on!” Woody grunted and was quickly joined by Jessie as she grabbed onto Woody and then Buzz began to pull on Jessie. 

“Hurry up!” Mr. Potato Head said frantically, as he, Rex, Slinky and Hamm climbed inside. “The big guy is coming back!”

“He won’t budge!” Jessie said. “We got to-”

Suddenly, the sack was lifted into the air. The toys gave surprised yelps as they felt the sack being slung over a shoulder.

“Last job complete!” they heard Santa said. “Now to head for Pole.”

“Pole!” Rex cried. “D-did you hear that?!”

Woody started to open his mouth, but was drowned out by panicked cries as they felt themselves fly up into the air and the sack being dropped into the sleigh. “Come boys!” they heard Santa said and a series of bells jingled. “Time to go home!” 

They heard Santa laugh as they once again felt themselves fly upward. “What’s going on?!” Slinky asked.

“Hamm!” Buzz said. “Status report!”

Hamm crawled and poked his head out of the sack. “Guys! We’re airborne!”

The others climbed to poke their heads out and let out a series of gasps. They were thousands of feet high up in the sky. They were so close to the clouds, Woody was certain he could reach and grab one. He glanced back and noticed Bullseye was rummaging through the sack. What was he looking for?

“Now then!” they heard Santa say as he held up and shook a snow globe. “To Santoff Clausen!” Santa then threw the snow globe and a misty snow portal appeared in front of them. Santa laughed as the sleigh flew right through it, and the toys suddenly found themselves staring at a large building.

“Is that Santa’s workshop?” Jessie whispered.

Buzz nodded. “And we’re preparing to land! Back into the sack!” The toys dived as the sleigh flew down and landed onto a long runway. 

The toys huddled together as they heard the sleigh slowly come to a stop and Santa laughed.

“Ha ha! Is new record! I like to see Bunny beat this.”

The toys then heard a series of grunts and murmurs from another voice. 

“Yes, take reindeer, Phil.” Santa said as the toys heard the thud of him climbing out of the sleigh. “And give them extra apples and carrots, they do good job tonight.”

Woody signaled the other toys to be silent as he carefully peeked his head out of the sack. His eyes widened. “What the-”

Santa was talking to a giant hairy white creature while it unhooked the reindeer from the sleigh.

Buzz and Hamm were next to stick out their heads. “What on earth is that creature?” Buzz whispered. “It looks like Big Foot.”

Hamm sighed. “No, that’s the abominable snowman, but more commonly called a yeti.” He shook his head. “You need to know your mythological creatures better.”

“I’m more curious about why Santa has one,” Woody whispered as Santa took a hold of the last couple of reindeer.

“Maybe he’s a bodyguard?” Buzz suggested.

Suddenly, the yeti gave a grunt.

“Elves are not in bed yet?” Santa said as he yawned and helped him unhook the reindeer. “Fine, fine, as long as they are awake tomorrow, they can stay up late.” Santa and the yeti continued to talk as they led the reindeer down the tunnel.

Woody waited until they were out of sight before he gave the all clear to the other toys. The toys climbed out of the sack and the sleigh as they looked around. The only exception was Bullseye, who got out of the sack and was now growling at it.

Woody was tempted to go see why the horse had decided the sack was his enemy, but he had more urgent matters to get to.

“Alright, let’s stay calm and plan this logically- ”

“Logically?” said Mr. Potato Head. “Because of Bullseye we got kidnapped by Santa who apparently has a tall and hairy bodyguard! What’s logical about that?!”

Buzz rubbed his chin as he started to pace. “Seems to me our prime directive is to locate Santa, explain to him what happened so he can take us home.”

“No!” Rex cried as threw up his arms. “We can’t do that! What if he gets mad?!”

“Ya weren’t too concerned about seeing Santa at Bonnie’s house,” Jessie replied skeptically.

“B-but that was stealing a peek in our own home! This is Santa’s workshop! We’re intruders!” Rex stammered as his whole body shook. "What if we get put on Santa's naughty list?!"

The others stared confused and it was Hamm who asked the question they were all thinking. "Um, correct me if I'm mistaken here, but we're toys. Why would we care if we get presents, which are also toys and therefore we don't get, from Santa?"

"I just don't want to be labeled!"

As the toys discussed, Bullseye continued to growl and watch the sack. He knew the creature was still in there. It had remained perfectly still while the other toys were in the bag and the sack had been too dark for them to see it, but now Bullseye saw it moving. 

Suddenly, the creature jumped out, kicked Bullseye off the sleigh and leapt from the other side right through a side door.

Bullseye jumped off the sleigh and instantly began to give chase, but was halted as Woody saw him and grabbed his saddle. “Oh no!” Woody scolded. “We’re not letting you run off again!”

“But what should we do?” Jessie asked. “Fly the sleigh home ourselves?”

Suddenly, Buzz snapped his fingers. “Wait! Didn’t Santa say his elves were still awake?”

Woody’s eyes widened. “He did! One of them could help us get home.”

Slinky looked to Rex. “Ya got any problems talking with an elf?”

Rex tapped his claws together. “Well….as long as they don’t tell Santa, I guess that works.”

“Let’s go elf hunting then!” Hamm said as he headed towards the nearest side door. “Hey, think they would come out if we wanted a pair of shoes.”

“Don’t think it works like that,” Woody grunted as he yanked Bullseye away from the other door. “Come on, boy! We got to go!”

Bullseye sighed and as he glared where the creature had run off. It was not going to get away with this! Not with Bullseye on the watch!


	3. The Elves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The toys find themselves in North's workshop, and find it's rather tricky to get home.

The legendary workshop of Santa Claus turned out different from what Woody had expected as they walked through darkened hallways. Granted, Woody had envisioned the workshop bursting with activity and life in the middle of the holiday season. He never pictured to be walking through the place in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve when Santa was asleep.

Jessie frowned as she looked from side to side. “So, where exactly are these elves supposed to be?”

“This place is huge,” said Slinky as he shook his head. “We could spend hours looking in here.”

“Wait a sec!” Mr. Potato Head said as he raised his hand. “Did anyone else hear laughter just now?”

Buzz shut his eyes and listened. “If my estimates are correct it’s coming from around that table!”

Woody lifted his head and could hear the laughter as well. It was high pitch, but hardly sounded like a kid. “Okay guys, remember these are Santa’s elves so we’ve got to be on our best behaviour.”

“Especially if we don’t want to be on the naughty list,” Rex added.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Hamm mumbled as they walked around the table. Everyone froze at the sight before them.

They had indeed found the elves, but like the workshop they were hardly anything like what Woody had pictured. He had expected to see busy elves working at their hardest at making the best toys possible. These were the legendary toy makers and for many toys they were viewed equally as important as Santa, as there wouldn’t be Christmas toys if not for these creatures.

So, seeing three elves giggling madly with goofy grins as they each took a turns shoving a toy flute up their nose and their heads into a toy trumpet rather shattered the pristine image. Seeing the third elf get his head stuck inside the trumpet especially wasn’t encouraging.

“I’m thinking these three have been hitting the eggnog,” Mr. Potato Head whispered to Hamm who nodded in agreement.

Woody sucked in air as he let go of Bullseye and fixed his hat. “Well, we found them, so I’m going to talk to them.”

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Woody?," Buzz asked as they watched two of the elves yank the third elf's head out of the trumpet. "They don't seem the engineering type to me."

"I'm with Buzz here," Jessie raised her hand in agreement. "I've seen squirrels more focused than those...um elves."

"Oh, come on, guys," said Woody as he straightened his hat. "These are Santa's elves. He wouldn't just let anyone make his toys." He glanced back just as the elves freed their friend and started using the toy trumpet as a baseball bat with the third elf as the ball.

"With that said, " Woody chuckled nervously. "Be on stand by."

"Will do, Woody!" Buzz confirmed with a salute as Woody made his way over. 

He cleared his throat. "Um...Hi! Excuse me?"

The elves blinked as they dropped the third elf to the ground and stared at Woody in awe. The one holding the trumpet placed it on the floor and gave a quiet "Ooh!"

Woody straightened his posture and tried to ignore the awkward stares he was receiving. "Listen, there's been a bit of a mix up. See, my friends and I accidently fell into Santa's sack."

One elf was giving Woody a dangerous look, and circled him until he stood behind the toy. "So, we were wondering if you could just tell him-"

"THERE'S A SNAKE IN MY BOOT!"

Woody yelped as he felt his pull string slip back into his back. The elf who was behind him had no doubt pulled his string, and was clapping his hands in amusement.

"Um...yes," said Woody as he turned to him. "It does that, so as I was saying-"

"SOMEONE'S POISONED THE WATERHOLE!"

Woody turned and tried to hold his temper as the other two elves laughed after pulling his string. "Yes, it's funny, now can we-"

"REACH FOR THE SKIES!" Woody's voice box spoke again and the elves laughed, thrilled by their new toy.

"Cut that out!" Woody had had enough and held his hands behind his back to cover his drawstring. "Now will you-"

Woody trailed off. The three elves stared at him curiously and reached their hands out eager to pull his drawstring. They stepped closer and seemed to care less about what Woody wanted.

He gulped. "Um...Stay back!"

"Woody needs help!" said Slinky.

"I'm on it!" Buzz cried as he leapt into action. He somersaulted on the floor and stopped directly in front of Woody and shielded him from the elves.

The elves seemed baffled as Buzz stood straight and shot his flashlight laser at them. "Stay back you primitive beings!" 

The elves tilted their heads at Buzz like they were processing just what Buzz was. Suddenly, to Buzz and Woody's horror, the elves’ expression changed to one of pure delight as they chimed a loud "Oooh!" in unison.

"Um..." replied Woody as he and Buzz inched their way back to the others. "I think your plan backfired, Buzz."

"Yes," Buzz nodded in agreement as the elves moved closer. "I believe it has."

"RUN!" Jessie cried.

The toys turned and screamed in terror as the three elves happily cheered and gave chase. 

“This is crazy!” snapped Mr. Potato Head as they ran. “There’s more of us than there are of them!”

“Wrong! There’s more of them now!” Slinky yelled as he glanced back and saw more curious elves joining in and running after after them. 

Hamm cringed as he saw the mad look in their eyes. “They’re catching up!”

“I know! I know!” Woody said as he panted. The toys couldn’t keep running forever.

"Woody, look!" Jessie suddenly cried as she pointed to a large locked storage closet. “We can use that!”

Woody sighed in relief, but didn’t let himself slow down. "Finally, some luck for a change." He glanced back to the others. "Guys, it's time to initiate emergency plan 33."

"Right, Woody!" Buzz nodded. "Potato Head and I will go tackle the locks!"

"Wait!" said Rex frantically. "Is plan 33 the one where I get a hula hoop? Or is it the one where I wear a giant dog treat on my head?"

"Just run to the door you moron!" Mr. Potato Head called as he and Buzz raced ahead to the cabinet. 

“Everyone!” Woody called. “Turn right!” 

The toys did as they were told as the elves gave more merry cheers in this new game. Woody could feel his legs beginning to give out as they ran and he glanced back fearing that his friends were feeling the same way and would soon be captured.

Thankfully, as the toys neared the door, Buzz had unlocked the last lock on the door and waved as he jumped back. 

“Hold the door!” Woody ordered as the toys came charging through.

Mr. Potato Head and Buzz pulled the door open just as Woody and the other toys ran inside and the elves followed in hot pursuit. However, as soon as the toys entered they all sharply turned on their heels and backtracked out the door. Before the elves were even given a chance to ponder what had happened, the toys were free of the closet and Buzz and Mr. Potato Head had slammed the door shut.

The chase finally at an end, all the toys collapsed onto the floor into a pile. “Good job, guys,” Woody panted as he raised a thumbs up. “We should be able to catch our breath-”

“Uh, Woody-” Buzz cut in as he fearfully pointed ahead.

More elves stood at the end of the hall, all with the same gleeful look in their eyes as they stared at the toys.

“How many elves can this thing trap?” Rex asked nervously.

Woody gulped. “I think we’re going to find out.”

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After the tenth and final round of luring and trapping the elves into the storage closet, Jessie slammed the door shut before she slumped and leaned against Buzz. "That should be all of them."

The other toys gave a groan, no one willing to budge an inch. "That better be," Slinky replied, rubbing his sore feet. "I couldn't lift a paw if my life depended on it."

Mr. Potato Head forced himself to sit up and glare at Woody. "Let's talk to the elves, you said," he muttered darkly. "It will be fine, you said."

Woody didn't even bother to raise his exhausted head. "Can...*huff*...it....*huff*."

Buzz sighed as he forced himself to sit up. “It’s late and we all need some sleep.” He looked over the exhausted toys. “We won’t solve anything when we’re this worn out.”

Woody nodded. “You’re right, let’s find a place to sleep and then in the morning, we’ll figure out how to get home.”

“I think I saw another storage closet on the third round of running,” said Hamm. 

“Let’s go there then,” Woody said as he tugged Bullseye along. The closet should be a safe place for all the toys in case there were other elves they hadn’t caught. Last thing they needed was to wake up and find themselves in the hands of one of those crazy elves.

Woody glanced to Bullseye as they walked, even though he had to be as exhausted as the rest of them, the horse seemed to be on high alert. It was like he was expecting something to attack them any minute. I wish I knew what was up with him.

“Here it is!” Hamm called as Mr. Potato Head opened the door. “It looks like it’s where Santa stores his paints.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Jessie said as she slumped inside and climbed into the nearest box. “I’m so tired I could sleep on a rock.”

The other toys agreed in unison as they each found a makeshift bed. “Some Christmas this is turning out to be,” said Mr. Potato Head as he glared at Bullseye. “All thanks to you pony!”

Bullseye snarled, but Woody held him back. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it was. We’re all here now, so we’ll have to make the best of it.” He looked back to the toy horse who was now glaring at the door. “Come on, boy, you need sleep too.”

Bullseye seemed reluctant, but he gave a sigh and followed Woody into a low shelf and laid his head on Woody’s lap. 

“Night boy,” Woody whispered as he patted Bullseye’s head, watching as the other toys fell asleep. He then sighed and shut his eyes. He could only hope that Bonnie wouldn’t be missing them too much tomorrow.

Elsewhere in the dark factory, the creature hissed with delight. He was excited, very excited. There were thousands of machines for him to break and wreck to his heart’s content. The creature laughed as he entered a room and found a chocolate maker to tear his claws into. He was going to have a ton of fun here.

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North slept like a log when he crawled into bed as he usually did after his annual run. His normal routine was for him to awake and have Phil bring him a cup of cocoa before they prepared the factory for the Guardians’ party. He had taken extra effort with the planning this year since it would also be Jack’s first Christmas with them.

North had sworn to himself it would be the best Christmas the young winter spirit could remember. North felt it was only his duty after Jack had been by himself for so long. So, there was nothing allowed to go wrong today.

When a loud boom shook the factory and North fell out of his bed in shock, he realized the day was hardly off to an ideal start. North cursed as he untangled himself from the bed sheets.

“Phil!” North called as he pulled on the bed to climb to his feet. “What is happening?!”

Phil flung the door open and rapidly cried out in his yeti language.

North blinked as he processed what the yeti had told him. “The washing machine blew up?! Then fix-”

Phil continued to ramble hastily and waved his arms in the air.

“What do you mean not only washing machine?! All machines?!”

Phil nodded and North got his confirmation as he heard more agitated yeti cries coming outside his room.

North’s eyes narrowed. This was hardly normal. “Phil, go give Glen hand! I will dress and be there as soon as I can!”

Phil gave a salute and ran out the door as another crash was heard.

North cursed more as he scrambled to get dressed. This was NOT how Christmas morning was supposed to happen.

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Woody yawned as he woke up. “Morning every-huh?” He was shocked to find that Bullseye was not next to him sleeping, which was odd since normally the toy horse was a late sleeper. Woody glanced up and saw Bullseye was desperately pawing at the door as he tried to get it open.

“Oh, for heaven-Bullseye!” Woody called as he stood and the other toys began to wake. Woody folded his arms as he glared at Bullseye. “What exactly are you trying to do?”

Bullseye eyes narrowed and, as he did back in Bonnie’s house, gestured his head towards the door.

Woody sighed in exasperation. His patience was wearing thin. “No, we’re not going to open that door until we have a plan!”

Bullseye gave an equally frustrated snort as he pawed at the door.

“I’m telling you, the horse has gone nuts,” Hamm replied as he climbed off the other shelf along with Mr. Potato Head and Slinky.

“Actually,” Buzz said as he and Jessie climbed out of the box they were in. “We should open it and access our current situation.”

Woody frowned suspiciously at Bullseye, but then tipped his hat. “All right, Slinky give Buzz a hand while I hang on to Bullseye.”

The toy horse gave an offended snort as Woody took hold of his saddle and Woody gave an annoyed look back. He loved the little horse, but his behaviour had been ridiculous since last night and they couldn’t risk any more of it if they wanted to get home.

Jessie gave a worried frown as Slinky and Buzz pulled the door open. “So, how do we get home?”

“W-what if we borrow the sleigh?” said Rex as he fiddled his arms. “We could leave a note saying where we’ll put it back when we get home.”

“Oh sure,” said Mr. Potato Head as he folded his arms. “We’ll just gather all those giant reindeer, hitch them up and pile on top of each other and pray we don’t fall out as we drive it home.”

“So,” Rex said slowly. “It could work?”

Before Mr. Potato Head could reply, Slinky spoke. “Hey, Hamm, any idea what you call a group of yetis?” Slinky asked as he stared out the door with Buzz.

Hamm raised an eyebrow, not sure why Slinky would ask such a question. “Sorry, you’ve stumped me there. Yetis, as far as I know, are loners and don’t hang out in groups.”

“Huh,” Slinky said as he tilted his head and Buzz held the door open. “Then I reckon these guys didn’t get the memo.”

The toys’ jaws dropped as they looked out. Hundreds of yetis were madly running around, each letting out a frustrated grunt or yells along with the roaring whistles and bells that seemed to be howling from every direction.

“Look at them all!” Jessie said. “Why does Santa have so many yetis?”

Buzz frowned. “I’m more concerned with why they’re all so alarmed.” He looked back to the others. “It’s Christmas day, shouldn’t they be more relaxed?”

“I don’t care if Santa has a secret army of garden gnomes,” said Mr. Potato Head, stomping his foot. “Let’s find the big fat guy and ask him for a ride home.”

“But we’ll be on the naughty list!” Rex exclaimed as he chewed on his claws.

“Then we’ll just have to accept that as punishment, we need to get home to Bonnie” Woody said as he glanced to Bullseye. “And when we get home you and I are going to have a long talk.”

Bullseye gave an annoyed snort as a response. 

“If we’re going to see Santa,” said Jessie as she looked out into the work floor. “We’d better find a way of getting around that won’t risk us getting stomped on.”

The toys all cringed as they saw a large foot stomp in front of the door before dashing away. Slinky looked around and pointed up. “Look, there’s a ventilation shaft! Let’s go through there.”

Woody adjusted his hat and started to climb the shelf in front of the vent. “Seems like our best shot, come on, guys!”

Mr. Potato Head scowled as the toys followed. “Terrific, crawling through a dusty old shaft on Christmas Day. And I thought having to play out in the snow was bad.”

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Outside the workshop’s front door, Bunny shivered as he rubbed his feet to warm them up. “I hate walkin’ through snow.”

“Did it ever occur to you to wear shoes?” Jack said with a smirk as he leaned on his staff.

Bunny scoffed as he pointed to Jack’s bare toes. “I’ll wear shoes the day ya actually put on a pair.”

“Bunny! Jack!” Tooth called as she and Sandy flew down and landed with huge grins on their faces. “Merry Christmas!” she greeted as she gave each of them a hug. “Did you two just get here?”

“Yeah,” Jack said with a laugh. “Although, we might have gotten here faster if Cottontail didn’t complain about walking in snow every two minutes.”

Bunny rolled his eyes and Sandy chuckled. “Can we continue this inside where it’s warm?”

Tooth beamed and flapped her wings. “Oh Jack, you’re going to love North’s Christmas party.” 

Sandy knocked, but gave a frown to Bunny when no one answered. 

“Weird,” Bunny said as he took hold of the door knob. “Normally, Phil’s waitin’ to greet us.”

Tooth didn’t seem to notice as she continued. “And there are games, and food of every variety you can imagine.”

Jack smiled. “It sounds fun.”

Bunny turned the knob and pushed the door as Tooth finished. “Not only that, it’s one of the most peaceful times you’ll ever-”

A yeti’s frustrated cry cut Tooth off as the furry figure ran by. The four Guardians stared in bafflement as every single yeti in sight was desperately either working on a machine or ran around madly as they held tools in their hands. 

Jack was certain he heard yeti curse words from a group in a far corner. “Um…maybe my definition of the word is different from you guys,” Jack said as he tapped the top of his staff. “But this looks far from peaceful to me.”

“Oi!” Bunny called out. “What’s goin’ on here?!”

One of the yetis paused long enough to yell a few mumbled words before he went back to whacking his hammer against a candy maker. Sandy raised an eyebrow and created an image of North.

“Yeah, we better find North,” Jack agreed as he flew up. “Come on, I’ll bet he’s on the work floor.”

The others followed as they adamantly tried to avoid colliding with any yetis as they raced by. They went down the elevator and Tooth spied the last Guardian in the center of the chaos. “There he is!” she cried and pointed.

North seemed ready to pull his beard out as he gave orders. “Arrg! Stove is on fire?! Then put it out! Steve give Phil hand! Aggie go watch globe! That is last thing I need to go crazy!”

The yetis gave a salute as they went to carry out their orders. North shut his eyes and massaged his temples. “I am getting migraine.”

“Oi! North!” Bunny said as they moved towards him. “What the blazes is goin’ on!”

A look of relief washed over his face. “I have never been so happy to see you!” He raised his arms up. “Workshop has gone kaput!”

“What do you mean kaput?” Tooth asked confused.

“I mean-”

A crash echoed throughout the floor as a pair of yetis rammed into each other and scrambled to scoop up their spare parts and tools.

Sandy cringed and created the image of North’s office door.

North sighed. “Yes, we talk in office.” He growled. “I can not concentrate with all this noise! Come!”

The other four Guardians exchanged concerned expressions before they chased after North into his office.

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“Geez,” said Mr. Potato Head as he wiped away another spider’s web. “How long is this vent?”

“Who knows,” Slinky replied. “We haven’t seen any-”

“Hold it, I see light ahead,” said Buzz as he ran to the end. The other toys caught up as he looked through the opening. "There’s a desk, and a file cabinet. This must be Santa's office," Buzz whispered, as he looked around from what he could see through the vent.

"But where's Santa?" Woody asked as he peeked through.

It was then that the door opened and Santa entered, but he was no longer wearing the long red coat he had been wearing last night. Woody couldn't help but notice he also looked much more ragged and tired now. Four other people entered, well if 'people' was the right word. The strange group consisted of a teen boy with snow white hair, a small golden man, a feathered woman with wings and a giant rabbit.

"Who are those guys?" Rex asked.

Woody shushed Rex to be quiet and leaned forward to listen.

"So," started the large rabbit. "What's going on here? I haven't seen this place in such chaos since Christmas of ‘87."

The teen boy suddenly looked alarmed and gripped his staff. "Nothing happened with the run last night did it, North?"

"North?" Mr. Potato Head muttered. "I thought his name was Santa."

"Actually," Hamm replied. "As I recall Santa has several different names-"

"Guys, quiet," Jessie whispered.

"Well, sorry for trying to be educational."

Santa, or North as he seemed to be called here, shook his head. "No, no, Jack, delivery went fine without hitch."

"Jack?" said Buzz, and then his eyes widened. "Wait, does he mean Jack Frost?"

"Isn't that the fella that's Bonnie's been talking about lately?" Slinky whispered as he tried to sit up and get a better look. "The one that makes it snow."

Woody nodded as he looked at the other figures in the room. "If he's Jack Frost," he looked to the feathered woman. She did look oddly familiar, but then it hit him. "I bet she's the Tooth Fairy." She looked almost identical to the same fairy he had seen come in and collect Andy's teeth.

"But she's huge," Jessie replied. "She was always so tiny whenever we’ve seen her."

"Perhaps she has shape changing abilities," Buzz replied stroking his chin.

Hamm looked up and his eyes narrowed at the small golden man. "And I'll bet all the quarters in me the little man there is the Sandman. Funny, I thought he’d be taller."

Woody frowned, but gave a nod. "He does seem to be the same colour as that flying sand we see in the sky at night."

"Geez," Mr. Potato Head muttered in disbelief as he adjusted his hat. "What is this? A fairy tale convention?"

"Oh, oh!" Rex gasped excitedly and clapped his hands. "Then the tall rabbit must be the groundhog."

The others all looked to Rex with blank expressions. He fidgeted. "What? He has fur and so does the groundhog."

"He's the Easter Bunny you dinobrain!" Mr. Potato Head snapped.

Suddenly, Buzz and Woody saw the Easter Bunny's ears twitch and turn in their direction

"Everyone, hush!" Woody said alarmed, clapping a hand over Rex's mouth. Buzz held his breath as he protectively held Jessie, pulling her back. 

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Down in the office, Bunny narrowed his eyes at the air vent. He was certain he had heard something...

"Bunny?" North asked.

Bunny shook his head and turned back to North. "Sorry, Mate, ya were sayin’."

North sighed as he began to pace. "Since early this morning, all of my machines have gone kaput." He threw his hands in the air. "Everything from my gift wrapping machines to toaster. Nothing works!"

Sandy frowned as he twiddled his fingers and created a sand image of Pitch.

Tooth shook her head. "I can't see this as Pitch's doing," she flapped her wings and hovered. "If he wanted to ruin Christmas for North, he would do it before his run not afterward."

Bunny nodded as he drummed his fingers against his elbow. "Plus, it ain’t his style. Wreckin' machines is annoyin', but he wouldn't bother with somethin' this trivial."

"Wait, speaking of annoying," as Jack began to eye the floor and looked around him. "Where are the elves? I haven't seen any running around." He looked back to North. "And isn't fixing machines one of the few things they're good for?"

North gave a nod. While the elves did get underfoot, they were useful for fixing and adjusting broken machines. "That is because elves are missing."

"Missin?" Bunny said in disbelief. They were annoying little buggers, but it wasn't like them at all to abandon North with this much chaos happening. "Ya can't find them?"

"Have looked everywhere!" North said exasperated. "But no clue and yetis are up to their necks trying to fix everything." He slumped in his chair and ran a hand through his beard. "I am getting worried."

Tooth flew closer and patted his shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find them, North."

"Could they be out playing in the snow somewhere?" Jack asked. He had been teaching the elves snow games lately. Maybe they lost track of time while having a snowball fight.

North shook his head. "No, but," he raised his head and grimaced. "I am sensing there is something else here."

The others exchanged a puzzled glanced. "What do you mean?" Jack asked.

North sat up. "Something is here, in my workshop, that does not belong," he patted his stomach. "I feel it in my belly."

Bunny’s ears twitched again as he heard a small sound like a person was taking an anxious gulp. Was it from that air vent?

"Do you suppose this 'thing' is also wrecking the machines?" Tooth asked

North added. "I believe so."

"Then we just need to find it," stated Jack as he flew up in the air. "Let's search this place top to bottom, find whatever this thing is and get rid of it."

Sandy punched a fist into his palm and gave a nod.

Bunny decided to ignore the odd noise for the moment and looked to the others. "Right, so we need to do a proper search. Let's split up and hunt down the bloody whatever thing is here."

North no longer seemed quite so tired as he rose and cracked his knuckles. "I am in perfect mood for hunting. Need some stress relief." He pointed to Tooth and Sandy. "You two go search in left wing and we will go to right. Then we meet up back in office." The group left the office to begin the search.

Bunny took one more glance at the air vent. He was probably just hearing things. Still, better to double check just to be safe. If he recalled correctly that air vent went straight to paint storage.

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Back in the storage room, Buzz was the last toy to climb down the shelf. “Well,” he said slowly, trying to sound positive. “That was informative.”

“Yeah,” said Mr. Potato Head grimly. “We’ve learned that going to Santa, or North or whatever name he’s going by today is the last thing we want to do!”

“Come on, guys,” said Woody, as he tried to keep an eye on Bullseye. The little toy horse was pawing at the door again. “Maybe if we go and explain-”

“But you heard him!” Rex exclaimed waving his claws in the air. “He thinks we broke the machines! And he felt it in his belly!” He then grabbed Slinky by his face and shook him in panic. “IN HIS BELLY!”

“But we didn’t touch his machines!” said Jessie stomping her boot. “We’re innocent!”

Buzz paced in thought. “No, but we did trap the elves,” he paused and turned sharply. “Maybe that interrupted their routine of maintaining the machines.”

As Buzz finished they heard a crash and more yeti mumbles which Woody could only imagine were yeti curse words. “But locking the elves up can’t cause this much damage, can it?” He glanced to Bullseye was was now trying to push the door open with his head. Woody sighed and went over to pull him away from the door. Maybe Hamm was right and it was mad horse disease.

“Maybe we should go and get those elves out then?” Slinky suggested. 

“Oh, fantastic,” Hamm moaned. “Because I’m just dying to deal with those lunatics again.”

“But maybe North wouldn’t be so mad at us.”

Woody was about to agree with Slinky when he paused at the door. There was a thump. Several thumps. They were coming fast. Woody gulped and spun around.

“Guys! Hide!”

The toys gave a collective panicked yelp and ran to hide behind various paint buckets or whatever box they could fit in. Woody glanced back wondering if Bullseye had to be pulled away, but the horse had enough common sense to dive into a bucket of clean brushes by the door.

Woody dove into a shelf just as Buzz and Jessie approached the top shelf. “Hurry Jessie,” Buzz replied as he gave her a boost to the shelf. There was a box large enough for them to hide in. However, just as Jessie turned to lend a hand to Buzz, the spaceman toy lost his footing.

He landed on the floor with a hard thud, just as the storage door opened. Having no choice, Buzz collapsed and lay motionless on the floor.

The door opened to reveal Bunny. He held a boomerang in his hand and carefully eyed the room. “I know I heard somethin’ in here.”

Bunny entered slowly and didn’t even see Buzz, until his toe landed on one of the toy’s buttons.

 

“BUZZ LIGHTYEAR TO THE RESCUE!”

Bunny jumped. “What the-” He glanced at his feet and stared puzzled at Buzz. “A toy?”

Buzz remained lifeless as Bunny picked him up in his large paw, lifting the toy to his face. He stared hard and long at Buzz like he was trying to judge a potential criminal during an interrogation.

Then, much to Buzz’s surprise and horror, he spoke directly at him. "Okay," said Bunny as his nose twitched. "Drop the act."

Panic rang through Buzz's mind, but he remained in his lifeless state. He heard Bunny sigh and place a hand on his hip. "I've been around for centuries, Mate." Buzz stared directly into the large rabbit's eyes. "Ya don't think I know a living toy when I see one?"

Buzz swallowed. The pair of eyes he looked into clearly belonged to an ancient being. Buzz couldn't explain how he knew, but there was no way this creature was going to be fooled.

Buzz shifted uncomfortably and slowly began to move. "Um..." he began. "Look, we can explain-"

"YAAAA!!" Jessie suddenly jumped off the shelf she'd been hiding on and tackled the top of Bunny's head. "Get ya paws off my ranger!" she cried as she pulled on Bunny's ears.

"OW!" Bunny cried as he was forced to drop Buzz. "Why ya little-" He spun around desperately trying to reach for Jessie, but she kept dodging his paws. "When I get my hands on ya!"

Jessie steered Bunny towards the wall with a hard kick. Bunny slammed into a shelf causing various cans of paint to topple over, including a particularly large one that hit Bunny directly on the head.

Bunny gave a grunt before he wobbled and fell onto the floor unconscious. Jessie jumped off as the other toys reappeared from their hiding places.

“Buzz,” Jessie as she rushed to his side. “Ya alright?”

“I’m fine,” Buzz replied as he pointed to Bunny. “But what about him?”

Hamm examined Bunny and shook his head in disapproval. "Nice going, Jessie," Hamm replied, sourly. "You killed the Easter Bunny."

"We're going on the naughty list for sure now!" Rex cried almost in tears.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "I didn't kill him, I knocked the critter out."

Buzz coughed. "So...um....hands off your ranger, huh?"

"Fellas, we don't have time for this," said Slinky as he nervously watched the door. "It won't be long until the others show up."

"Right," said Mr. Potato Head crossing his arms. "And they're not going to be too happy hearing about Calamity Jessie taking out their giant rabbit."

"Everyone, calm down," said Woody. "We need to keep our heads and make a plan - wait a second." He looked over the whole group. "Where's Bullseye?"

The group glanced back to the bucket where Bullseye had hid, but it was now empty save for the paint brushes. "He must have run off, Woody," said Jessie as she pointed to the door. “The rabbit left the door ajar for him to leave.”

"Again!" cried Woody exasperated. "That's it, when we get home he is so going on a leash."

"Bunny!" they heard North cried out. "Are you alright? Heard giant crash!"

"Crud! They're coming, Woody!" cried Slinky. "What do we do?"

"Um..." Woody stammered, but Hamm was the first to respond.

"I'll tell you what we do!" Hamm began to run out of the room. “RUN AND PANIC!" 

"Hamm!" Woody cried, but Buzz caught his arm. "No, he's right Woody. If we stick together, we have a higher chance of getting caught then we would if we split up."

The footsteps drew closer.

Woody sighed. "Okay, fine. Split up! We'll try to meet up at the rendezvous point where the sleigh is!” The others quickly ran out the door and went in various directions.

"And if anyone finds Bullseye," Woody called. "TIE HIM TO A POLE OR SOMETHING!" He then sighed as he too bolted. Unbeknownst to Woody, a pair of green beady eyes watched him from the shadows of the roof beams and hissed in enjoyment.

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Tooth was the first to arrive at the scene, gasping in horror as she found a moaning Bunny on the floor. She flew over and helped Bunny sit up. “Are you hurt?”

Bunny grunted as he rubbed the bump on his head. “Just my pride mostly.”

Jack, North and Sandy quickly appeared. Sandy caused a question mark to appear the same time North asked. “Bunny what happened?”

“I was attacked,” Bunny explained as he climbed to his feet and gripped a shelf for support. “By a couple of toys.”

The others exchanged baffled looks and Jack coughed. “Are you sure you don’t have a concussion?”

“LIVING toys,” Bunny snapped. “I heard voices and found a live spaceman toy on the floor.” He then pointed to the shelf on the other side of the room. “And as I was questionin’ him a doll attacked me and knocked me into a shelf!”

Tooth frowned and looked to North. “I thought your toys didn’t come alive until children were holding them.”

North ran a hand through his beard. “They do not. Very strange.”

Jack, however, had another question in his mind and was staring directly at Bunny. "You, the great Easter Bunny," said Jack, suppressing his laugh, but not his smile. "Got beaten up by a doll?

"I did not get beaten up!" Bunny stated, twitching an eye and straightening his posture. "She just caught me off guard and knocked me out!"

"See, to me," said Jack grinning like a cat. "That's the exact same thing as getting beaten up."

North nodded as he stroked his beard. "Jack has point."

“In any case,” Bunny replied, dying to change the subject. “My point is there are a bunch of live toys runnin’ around.” He counted on his fingers. “From what I heard there are at least eight of them.”

Sandy raised a skeptical eyebrow as he produced an image of a teddy bear attacking a machine and failing miserably.

“Yeah,” Jack nodded in agreement. “Why would toys be attacking North’s machines?” He leaned against his staff. “It sounds like a plot to a lame Christmas special.”

North nodded. “It does not add up, but,” he held up his hand. “It is only clue we have and there may be connection.”

“So, we need to find these toys,” Tooth concluded. “And have them tell us what’s going on.”

“But,” Jack added as he looked to Bunny. “Maybe you better sit this out, Long Ears.” He gave a cheeky grin. “I mean, if one toy managed to take you out then a bunch of them-”

“Oh, don’t worry about me, Frostbite!” Bunny replied as he poked Jack’s arm. “In fact, I’m bettin’ I’ll be able to catch way more toys than you.”

Jack grinned. “Oh? Bet, huh? You sure on that?”

“Oh,” North chimed in, rubbing his hand. “I want in on this!”

“Guys,” Tooth said with a sigh as Sandy also raised his hands with a huge grin. “Do we really need to-”

“Winner gets to see the losers wear elf outfits while singing a song of the winner’s choice!” Jack declared.

Bunny, Sandy and North nodded in agreement as Tooth shook her head, not sure if she would ever understand men.


	4. The Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Guardians go hunting, and the toys go running.

Far away and in her room, Bonnie pouted as she dug through her toy chest. “They’re not in here either, Mom!”

Her mother looked over thoughtfully. “And you’re certain you didn’t leave them outside?”

“I brought them all inside! I didn’t want them to get cold.” She was baffled. Bonnie had been certain she remembered putting Woody, Jessie, Buzz and her other toys away in her chest.

Her mother patted her shoulder. “I’m sure they’ll turn up Sweetheart.”

“But I wanted to show them my new sleigh Santa gave me.”

Her mother smiled. “How about I make us some hot chocolate, and we’ll try your sleigh out at the park.”

Bonnie sighed. “Okay,” she said as she took her mother’s hand. The others toys waited until Bonnie had shut the door before they moved.

“Where on earth could they be?!” Mrs. Potato Head said as she clutched her hat nervously. “All they did was go to the living room.”

“Perhaps Bullseye ran outside,” suggested Mr. Pricklepants.

“But we should have seen them out the window then,” said Buttercup. He had watched out the window all night just in case it became obvious the others needed a hand.

“Look,” said Dolly as she patted Mrs. Potato Head’s arm. “Whatever happened I’m certain Woody and the others are on their way home this very second.” She gave a shrug. “Besides, what kind of trouble could they have gotten into on Christmas day?”

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Rex ran frantically and darted into every shelf, knook and cranny he could see. “Gotta hide! Gotta hide!”

His body refused to cease shaking as he buried his face into his hands and ran around the next corner. “Oh, where am I going to hide?! Huh?”

Rex froze. A few feet in front of him, stood a small doll house. The door was much bigger than Rex had ever seen on an average dollhouse. Upon a closer look, Rex was certain his body could easily fit through it. There were no windows and it was painted a very plain shade of grey. 

However, the dollhouse was eye-catching due to the large sign that pointed to the house reading “Perfect Hiding Spot For Toys.”

Rex gasped. “I’m saved!” Wasting no more time, Rex raced inside and slammed the door shut and was relieved to hear a click behind him. “Oh, and it even locks itself!”

The dinosaur finally relaxed. “They’ll never find me in here-ACK!”

Suddenly, the house shook and Rex fell over as he felt the house rise into the air. “What’s happening?! Is it a tornado?!”

Bright light entered as the cloth covering of the house was yanked away. Rex screamed in horror as it dawned on him that he was not in a house, but a large cage. The more frightening detail was that the said cage was in the hands of the very person he was hiding from.

North grinned and laughed as he lifted the cage to his face. “Ha! See Bunny, I tell you it work like charm.”

Bunny stared stunned with his ears folded back and then rubbed his eyes. “I-I can’t believe that actually worked.”

Rex gulped. “Um...please, don’t put me on the naughty list.”

“I would worry more about the stupid list,” Bunny muttered. Suddenly, Bunny’s ears twitched and without a second thought, he spun around and threw his boomerang.

Jessie let out a scared yell from the corner she had been spying from. She went to move, but was too slow as the boomerang caught her. It spun her in circles as the weapon carried her straight back to Bunny.

Bunny smirked as Jessie held her head to get the world to stopped spinning. “That was for tackling me ya she-devil” he smirked before opening the cage and plunking her inside.

“Um...Hi, Jessie,” Rex replied with a small wave. “Guess we’re roommates.”

Jessie groaned as she collapsed on the floor.

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Slinky ducked around the corner and looked up and down the hallway. So far, he, Hamm and Mr. Potato Head had managed to stay out of sight. They had almost run into trouble with a couple of yetis, but thankfully they seemed preoccupied with trying to fix the oven.

“Coast is clear, fellas,” he whispered.

Hamm came out with Mr. Potato Head close behind him. “You know, I can’t help but appreciate the irony here.”

“What irony?” replied Mr. Potato Head as he nervously glanced back and forth, ready to run at the very sound of approaching feet.

“That we’re a bunch of toys, hiding in Santa’s workshop,” Hamm continued. “That’s practically a cow trying to hide in a barn.”

“Hmm,” Slinky replied as he nodded. “Ya got a point there.”

“Who cares,” Mr. Potato Head whispered back harshly. “Let’s just get out of sight before-”

“Chirp!”

All three screamed and tripped over their feet which caused them to collide into one another and landed in a pile. Slinky cracked out an eye and prepared for his impending doom. “What the hey?”

A little humming bird grinned and waved at him while she flapped her wings. “Hey fellas, it’s the Tooth Fairy,” Slinky said as he climbed out from beneath Mr. Potato Head and Hamm. “Well, the tiny version.”

Mr. Potato looked dumbfounded. “What the? And now she’s small?! Why can’t she pick a size and stick with it?!”

The tooth fairy frowned and landed as she repeated a series of chirps.

“Huh,” Hamm replied looking curious. “She says she’s not the THE tooth fairy, that’s the big version we saw, she’s just one of the thousand helpers that help collect the teeth.”

“Since when do you speak bird?” asked Mr. Potato Head as he continued to look at the fairy doubtfully.

“Hey, when Andy wasn’t playing with us, we did have a lot of spare time. I also learned how to speak Russian and Latin.”

“But you couldn’t learn to speak Spanish?!”

The tooth fairy interrupted with more chirps and pointed to each of them.

“What she saying now?” asked Slinky.

“Uh oh,” Hamm replied. “She says we have to come with her, willingly or forcibly.”

“We’ll be forced to?” replied Mr. Potato Head as he looked the fairy over and then folded his arms. “Yeah, right, you and what army?” There was no way one tiny fairy would be able to carry all three of them.

However, the fairy gave a smirk as she suddenly gave whistle. Before either of the toys could ask, a group of fairies zoomed from around the corner and hovered behind the tiny fairy that had called them.

All the fairies looked at the toys and Mr. Potato Head gulped. “I had to ask!”

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Buzz looked left and right, before he rolled and dashed into the next room. So far, he had managed to go unseen, but he hadn’t seen a glimpse of the others and he was almost at the rendezvous point where the sleigh was.

He grimaced and decided he had better begin planning rescue operations in his head. Suddenly, he heard a crash behind a door that caused him to jump. He frantically glanced around, but lowered his guard once he saw no one was coming.

He then paused and looked to the door. What had made the noise? Buzz hadn’t spotted any yetis on the way here nor any of the other legendary beings they had seen today. He heard another crash and Buzz frowned.

The toys knew they weren’t the ones wrecking the machines, however, that didn’t answer the question of what was doing so. Carefully, Buzz looked inside and stared wide eyed.

The room appeared to be where presents were wrapped judging by the stacks of rolls of paper on the shelves. Buzz could only assume the machine in the middle of the room was used to wrap the presents when it wasn’t being dismantled by some strange creature.

It was dark, but Buzz could see the creature was twice the size of himself and hissing joyfully as it yanked out more screws and other parts. Buzz knew the best plan of action was to back out, get the others and figure out a plan.

However, much to Buzz’s bad luck, his foot tripped on a fallen screw and he landed face first in the entrance way. Buzz lifted his head as the creature jerked around and he saw a pair of angry glowing green eyes glaring back.

Buzz gulped. “Um….I come in peace?”

The creature hissed and sprang forward. Buzz scrambled and performed the only best course of military action. A ‘tactical retreat’.

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Woody panted and leaned against the wooden door. He could have sworn the way back to the sleigh had been this way, but now he wasn’t so sure. Woody certainly didn’t recall seeing the pile of haystacks before.

Woody wondered if perhaps he was in some kind of stable, but tossed his musings aside as he heard someone singing “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

Woody swallowed and gasped as he saw a shadow of a boy appear on the floor. He frantically looked around and thanked whatever divine being was looking out for him as he saw a large gap between the edge of the door and the floor.

Woody dove and crawled underneath as he heard the sound of feet entering the room. He then flung his ear against the door and listened. Woody could hear his pursuer tapping his foot in thought.

 _Please leave! Please leave!_ Woody thought. _Can’t I get one break today?!_

Woody got his answer as he felt hot breath on the back of his neck. Dreading with every fiber in his body, Woody turned his head and looked directly into the eyes of a curious reindeer.

The reindeer sniffed and Woody backed up against what he knew for sure had to be a stall door. “N-nice reindeer,” Woody stammered as he tried to make his way back under the door. “Good reindeer, you stay there and I’ll leave-”

The reindeer swooped downward and snatched Woody by his back. Woody screamed in fright as he felt the reindeer’s teeth gripped into his fabric. The reindeer swung Woody side to side until the toy was unable to see straight and then decided to toss Woody up into the air like a ball.

Woody flew briefly and gripped his hat as he tumbled, getting a clear view of the reindeer’s opened jaws. He shut his eyes and braced himself for more chewing.

Suddenly, a hand snatched Woody by his boot in midair. Upon hearing laughter, Woody dared to open his eyes and saw he was still hovering in the air in the hand of Jack Frost. The boy gave Woody a cheeky grin before looking back to the reindeer.

“Sorry, Dancer, you can’t play with this toy.”

Play?! How was THAT playing?! Woody thought, but then remembered he had a different reason to panic as he dangled helplessly from Jack’s grip. Jack chuckled as he landed and Woody desperately tried to squirm free.

“That’s one for me,” Jack said quite proudly. “Now, let’s get a look at you-” he trailed off as Woody got a clear full view of Jack. Woody swallowed, if he didn’t know any better he would swear the boy was no older than Andy. Jack was giving him an odd look like he trying to recall a line from a play.

"Wait, I know you," Jack frowned as Woody dangled upside down from Jack's hand and tried to hang on to his hat. He lifted Woody up to his face and turned him so he was right side up. "Aren't you Bonnie's toy?"

Woody forgot about trying to escape and stared at Jack. He understood Jack Frost was a winter spirit, bringing snow to kids everywhere. However, it wasn't like he had a list of kids like Santa did to memorize their names from. "Bonnie? Y-you know Bonnie?"

Jack shrugged with a grin. "Well, I WAS trying to steal the spell inside your hat."

"THAT WAS YOU?!" Woody exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger as he let his anger take over and forget the peril he was in. "You nearly gave me a heart attack playing with my hat like that!"

Jack smiled satisfied as if he’d been waiting for that exact answer and gave a shrug. “What can I say, you made an easy target.” He face then turned serious. “Although, wrecking North’s machines is a weird type of revenge.”

“It’s not us!” Woody exclaimed waving his arms. “We got here by accident! We have no idea what’s wrecking his machines!” He placed a hand over his heart and raised a hand like a scout. “We swear!”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “I do find it hard to believe it would be a bunch of toys,” he chewed his lip in thought. “But if it’s really not you guys then who-”

A crash cut Jack off and he spun to his left. Buzz had flung the doors open and raced inside. “Woody!” he shouted frantically. “There’s a-”

Then a small green monster burst through the doors and pinned Buzz to the floor. Buzz rolled over and managed to knock it off. However, the creature rebounded and tackled him again. Buzz snapped his helmet in place as the creature hissed and scratched at it to get at Buzz’s face.

“Buzz!” Woody called and suddenly found himself stashed into Jack’s hood. The boy raced forward and used his staff like a hockey stick to knock the monster off of Buzz. The creature slammed against the wall and seemed dazed. Jack launched a shot of ice, but the monster dodged and raced back out of the room. Jack gave chase but by the time he reached the doors, it was long gone. 

Woody poked his head out of Jack’s hood. “Buzz, are you okay?”

Buzz fingered the scratch marks on his helmet before opening it. “A few scratches, but otherwise fine.”

Jack caught his breath then bent to scoop Buzz up and took Woody out of his hood. “Alright,” said Jack as he stared at both of them. “What was that?”

“I found that creature in one of the work rooms,” Buzz explained. “It was sabotaging the present-wrapping device and then decided to attack me.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. “So it’s definitely not you toys. We’ve got to find the others.” Jack then clutched Woody and Buzz to his chest and flew out of the room. “Whatever that thing is, it’s not friendly.”

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Sandy spotted the little horse toy near at the end of a hall. It was sniffing ground very similar to the way a dog would. The horse’s tail then wagged and it started to walk inside one of North’s workrooms.

Sandy sprung into action. He couldn’t win the bet if he didn’t catch any toys. Sandy summoned sand and formed it into a whip. He then flung it and it wrapped itself around the horse’s body. 

The toy horse gave a frantic whinny as Sandy yanked it back. The whip disintegrated as the horse was tossed in the air. Sandy then swiftly created a small cloud of sand and caught the toy in mid air. 

He grinned to himself as the cloud gently brought the toy horse into his hands. The horse struggled and pawed in the air. Sandy was about to sprinkle some sleep sand on it, when it started to whinny.

Sandy froze as he listened to the horse’s cries. Sandy had never been able to talk and there had been plenty of times it had been a disadvantage for the Sandman. However, there was an ability he had gained in exchange. He might not have been able to talk, but Sandy was able to understand every language that had ever existed and that included the sounds of animals, even animal toys.

So, while those horses whinnies would have been just noise to a normal ear, to Sandy it translated to “No! No! Stop! I need to catch the monster! It’s wrecking Santa’s shop!”

Sandy blinked and the horse continued its story, but started to calm down as Sandy stared at him. Sandy frowned and with his sand produced an image of the monster according to the horse’s description.

The horse tilted his head astounded and then happily wagged his tail, looking very relieved that someone finally understood him. 

Sandy smiled and gave a sympathetic pat, since he knew exactly how the little toy felt. He then carefully held the horse and he summoned a sand cloud, going to find the others. Sandy knew what the problem was now and it wasn’t as easy to fix as they had hoped.


	5. The Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The toys are caught, but things are quickly revealed and it's time to caught the real monster once and for all.

North and Bunny watched amazed as Tooth’s fairies dropped three more toys into North’s cage. “I do believe that’s three for me,” Tooth said with a grin.

“I do not recall you being in on bet,” said North as he raised an eyebrow.

“Hey! Hey!” said Hamm as he shook the bars of the cage. “Don’t we get a free phone call?”

Bunny snarled. “Ya lucky we don’t just throw you out in the snow after the mess ya caused!”

“For the last time!” Jessie snapped with a glare. “That wasn’t us!”

“Says the doll that attacked me!” Bunny argued back.

“That is enough,” North said as he pushed Bunny back and folded his arms. “You toys, I want names.”

Slinky gulped and stepped forward. “Well, Sir, I’m Slinky, the cowgirl is Jessie, and that’s Rex, Mr. Potato Head and Hamm.” He looked around. “There’s also Buzz, Woody and Bullseye, but it looks like they’re not here.”

Tooth lowered her head and offered a friendly smile. “And what are you toys doing here?”

“We got here by accident!” said Mr. Potato Head. “Our crazy horse Bullseye, for some equally crazy reason, went into Santa’s sack and we got snagged when we tried to pull him out.”

“I thought sack felt heavier,” North muttered aloud.

“And let me guess the rest of the story,” said Bunny. “Ya all were wandering around and messed up North’s machines in the process, right?”

“No!” Jessie snapped, but Rex cut her off by raising a hand. “Um….Can I ask one question Mr. Bunny?”

Bunny stared at Rex suspiciously. “I suppose.”

“Do you really lay chocolate eggs and jellybeans like a chicken?”

Bunny went quiet and blinked dumbly. “What.”

“Well, I mean, how do you do that?” Rex asked, as he tapped the tips of his claws together. “Do you drink a lot of chocolate milk?”

North held a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing, but Bunny’s ears still gave a twitch. “I don’t lay anythin’.”

Rex looked confused. “But according to that tv commercial-”

“Okay, that’s enough yakking from you,” said Mr. Potato Head as he shut Rex’s mouth shut and then looked to North. “Look, we know how this looks, but whoever is causing trouble here isn’t us!”

North stroked his beard and moved his face towards the cage. “I want to believe you, but if is not you then-”

“They’re telling the truth, North!” Jack replied as he flew down, and placed Woody and Buzz on his shoulders.

“Woody! Buzz!” Slinky cried. “‘Bout time ya got here!”

Buzz and Woody waved as Jack continued to ramble. “It’s a monster! I saw it in the stable! It’s green and has claws-”

“Whoa! Whoa!” Tooth said as patted Jack’s arm. “Slow down, what do you mean a monster?”

“It’s like what he said,” said Woody as he climbed down Jack’s arm and onto the table. “There’s some green monster going around and breaking the machines. It nearly killed Buzz- Um, is something wrong?”

North was very quiet and he stared at Woody with a thoughtful expression.

"Hmmm....," North said as he stroked his beard. "I wonder," he muttered and suddenly lifted Woody up in his large hands. He rubbed his fingers along Woody's seams thoughtfully. "Same stitch." He then looked at Woody's face. "Had a touch up, but is same paint as well."

Woody stiffened, unsure if the legendary Santa Claus staring at him with such an intense look was a good thing or not.

"Um...Sir?" Woody asked as the others, both toys and guardians stared at the scene curiously.

Then North smiled and he laughed warmly. "Ha ha! I thought you look familiar!"

"W-what?" asked Woody confused.

"I made you!" North explained, still laughing. "LIttle boy, Andy. He asked for Woody Round Up doll, but yetis were concerned since you were not being made anymore." He beamed at Woody like an uncle would to a nephew. "So, I had to make you myself."

Woody's mind went blank as his jaw dropped. He could utter no sound.

Suddenly, someone made a gasping sound. "*GASP* Woody, I am your father. *GASP*"

Woody narrowed his eyes and glared back. "Not funny, Buzz!"

"Oh, on the contrary!" Buzz argued from Jack's shoulder. "It's absolutely hilarious."

Jack nodded in approval. "Yeah, I'm with the spaceman."

"Ha!" said Slinky raising his paw out from between the bars of the cage. "I knew you were a Santa toy Woody!"

Mr. Potato Head groaned. “Great, we won’t be hearing the end of this for years.”

Woody stared dumbfounded at North. He had to admit, Woody had always wondered if he was a Santa toy, but to actually learn it was - He shook his head, no, like he had said to Buzz earlier that didn’t change who he was. He was still Woody. 

Although, Woody had to admit, he felt a bit of pride fill him from the proud look North was giving him.

“Aw,” cooed Tooth. “This is so sweet.”

Bunny coughed. “I hate to interrupt, but Jack ya were sayin’ something about a monster?”

Jack dropped his grin. “Right, there’s some kind of weird creature running around.”

“What did it look like?” North as as he set Woody on the table. 

Buzz chewed his lower lip. “It was about the size of a large house cat, was green, and had pointed ears and sharp claws.”

Bunny’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, that sounds like a gremlin.”

“Gremlin?” Jack said as he drummed his fingers on his staff. “You mean those little monsters that go after airplanes?”

“Da,” North said with a nod. “But not only airplanes, they go after anything mechanical.”

“It probably think it hit an all ya can eat buffet when it got inside ya workshop,” said Bunny.

Tooth shook her head. “But how could a gremlin gotten inside your workshop?”

It was then a rattlel was heard. Everyone looked up as Sandy landed and disintegrated the maraca he created out of his sand. He gave a smile as he set Bullseye on the table.

“Bullseye!” Woody cried as he stomped over. “Where have you been?! Do you know how much trouble-”

Suddenly, Woody found himself blocked by Sandy’s hand and gently shook his head at Woody. The toys exchanged confused looks, but Jack caught on quickly. “I’m guessing you found out something too?”

Sandy nodded and waved his hands as he created a sand image of a house. Jessie’s eyes widen. “Hey, that’s Bonnie’s house!”

Sandy pointed to her and nodded as he sands changed and created what the toys knew to be Bonnie’s living room. Suddenly, a sand North appeared and laughed as he opened the sack and set presents at the tree.

Everyone became silent as a sand gremlin peeked out from behind a corner and dove inside North’s sack.

“Wait! That THING was from Bonnie’s house!” Buzz exclaimed in shock.

“Nevermind that!” Hamm replied. “We were inside the same sack, remember!”

“How on earth could you have both been in the sack and not see it?” Jack asked sounding confused.

“My sacks are much bigger on inside than outside,” North replied as he refused to take his eyes off Sandy’s image. “If it stayed still, it is possible for toys not to notice that-”

Sandy shook his head. 

Tooth caught on to his meaning. “You’re saying, someone did notice?”

Sandy nodded and his sand scene continued as a sand Bullseye appeared and looked very determined as he crawled into the sack.

All the toys eyes widened, especially Woody’s and they all turned to Bullseye. “You knew it was in Bonnie’s house,” Jessie said. “That’s why you insisted on leaving the room.”

“And why you went inside the sack!” Woody exclaimed as Bullseye nodded. “You were trying to get that thing out.” He reached out and stroked Bullseye’s mane. “Oh boy, we’re so sorry. We should have known.”

“Yeah, they should have known,” Mr. Potato Head said. “I never doubted you for a minute!”

“So, in conclusion,” Buzz said as he climbed off of Jack and onto the table. “When we tried to get Bullseye out, the gremlin pulled him back in, and then we were all in the sack-”

“And you ended up in the workshop,” Jack concluded. “But why was that thing in Bonnie’s house?”

“Holy Hannah!” Slinky exclaimed as he jumped up. “I just remembered, when I was in the garage with Bonnie, her dad was joking about a gremlin being in the car, but ain’t that just an expression?”

“There’s truth in all stories, if there’s enough belief,” Tooth said. “And at least now we know what happened to your machines, North.”

“Da,” North replied as he punched a fist into his palm. "And gremlin must have also taken elves."

The toys exchanged an uneasy glance with each other. "Um..." Jessie said as she removed her hat and fiddled with the brim. "Actually, that part actually was our fault."

"Yeah," Woody began rubbing the back of his head. "See, when we got here we tried to ask the elves for help getting home and...well..."

"They wanted to play with us and wouldn't leave us alone!" Mr. Potato Head finished. "So, we had to put them in lock up."

Hamm nodded. "Yeah, no offense, but we can't see how those guys are supposed to be toy makers."

North gave a tired sigh. "They are not."

The toys froze. "Pardon?" Jessie asked.

"The elves don't make the toys, North just lets the elves believe they do," Jack explained and pointed to a yeti that was passing by carrying an arm full of toy trucks. "It's actually the yetis."

The toys stared awestruck at the yeti. "Huh," Slinky muttered. "Wish we’d known that a few hours ago."

"So," Tooth said slowly. "I don't think North can blame you guys too much for that, right North?"

North nodded as he opened the door to the cage. "Yes, but I must still know where my elves are. Take me to them."

“Sure thing, Sir,” said Slinky. “We locked them in that big closet.”

North paled. “Big closet?”

“The one with all the padlocks on it,” Jessie explained. “It wasn’t that far from the paint storage.”

North moaned as he buried his face into his hands.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked concerned.

“That closet,” explained North, “is one place I try to keep them out of for decades.”

“Why?” asked Woody. “What was in there?”

North sighed. “Come, I will show you.”

The group followed North to the work floor and passed all the yetis, who seemed slightly calmer now, but looked exhausted from all the work. As the toys stated, the group spotted a large pile of locks outside the door which made North cringe.

He reluctantly turned the knob and the group looked inside. The elves lay moaning on the floor, but each had a large joyful grins plastered on their faces as they smacked their lips. Brightly coloured broken pieces of red and white candy were scattered on the floor.

Jack kneeled and poked one of the elves with his staff, but the elf refused to budge. "North, what did you keep in here?"

North groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This was candy cane storage."

Slinky gave an uncomfortable cough. "Yes, well, sorry sir, but we were kind of desperate at the time."

"How on earth did you even get in there?" asked Tooth in amazement at all the opened locks. "There must be at least a dozen locks on this."

"Eh," Hamm replied with a shrug. "This is small potatoes after you break out of a daycare."

"A daycare?" Bunny replied in disbelief. "What's so hard about that?"

"Oh," Mr. Potato Head said like he was suffering from a headache. "Do not get us started on daycares!"

“In any case,” said Jack as he rose to his feet. “We’d better get after that gremlin before he causes more damage.”

North nodded. “But creature is small, will be hard to track him and yetis still have hands full getting machines working again.”

“Um…” Woody said as he raised a hand. “We can help, it is technically our fault it’s here.”

North shook his head. “No, no, we’ll have Jack take you home. Your heart is in right place, but you are toys-”

“Who managed to take down the Easter Bunny,” Jessie said as she folded her arms. 

“She’s right,” Buzz said. “Besides, we couldn’t go home knowing that creature is still on the loose.”

Bunny shut his eyes and sighed before turning to North. “I hate to admit it, but they’re right, besides we can probably use all the help we can get.”

North frowned, but slowly gave a nod. “Very well, but gremlin could be anywhere.”

“Well, maybe there’s a way to lure it out,” said Tooth as she flapped her wings. “And then we can surround it and trap it.”

Jack stroked his chin as he gave a sly grin. “Hey Bunny, how good are gremlins’ eyesight?”

“Rather poor as I recall,” Bunny said as he looked to Jack suspiciously. “They mostly rely on their ears and noses. Why?”

Jack grinned. “Cause I think I got an idea on how to lure it out,” he sat on the floor and looked to the toys. “But it requires live bait.”

“Why,” Hamm said as he backed up. “Do I get the feeling we’re not going to like this plan?”

Jack shrugged. “Aw, come on, it will be fun. I promise!”

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“Fun he says,” Hamm said sourly as he, Rex and Slinky roamed the work room. He looked over his toaster costume sadly. “That’s the last time I trust someone who doesn’t wear shoes.” He glanced back to Rex and Slinky who were also dressed as toasters.

He didn’t quite understand the logic of them being toasters, but he figured it was the quickest costumes the yetis could put together under short notice.

Rex whistled nervously as his whole body shook within his costume.

"Rex, stop whistling," Slinky hissed as he peeked from beneath his disguise. "We're supposed to be toasters! And they don’t whistle!"

"I can't help it!" Rex whispered back. "I need to do something to calm my nerves while we wait for a monster to come get us!"

"Then beep or something," Hamm grunted in annoyance. "Your whistling is getting on my nerves too."

Rex fidgeted before he started moving again. "Beep, beep! I am just an innocent toaster." He started to move in a circle. "Beep! Beep! Making my burnt toast. Beep!"

Slinky sighed. "You know, this is actually more annoying."

"Will ya gumbys stop yakkin’ and be serious about this?!" they heard Bunny hiss from the radio link the yetis had installed into the disguises.

"Oh, sorry!" Hamm replied bitterly. "How about next time we set the trap and you can be Scooby and Shaggy to play as bait."

"Oh!" said Rex excitedly. "Can I be Velma then?"

There was brief static on the radio. "What?"

"Never mind, Bunny," Jack's voice cut in. "You three just keep moving."

Rex gave a sigh as the trio returned to their walk. He anxiously chewed his bottom lip. “This whole thing is doing a number on my nerves,” he whispered to the footsteps he heard behind him. “I mean, I might need some therapy, or at least have to watch more of those late night talk shows-”

Rex cut himself as it dawned on him. Hamm and Slinky were both far ahead of him, so who else could be making the footsteps and the hissing in his ear. Rex’s knees shook as he forced himself to turn around into the eyes of the gremlin.

Upon seeing the monster before him, Rex could only scream the first word that came to his mind. “BEEP!!”

Hamm snarled as he and Slinky spun around. “What did we say about-”

The gremlin hissed as he tried to swat Rex with his claws, but the little dinosaur ducked. “Run!” Rex screamed.

Slinky and Hamm instantly joined in the screaming in terror as they raced ahead.

“Gremlin is here! Gremlin is here!” Slinky yelled into the microphone. “And he doesn’t look too happy we tricked him.”

The gremlin answered with a hiss as he ran on all fours and was quickly catching up.

“Don’t panic!” Buzz said back. “Lead him to the back of the workshop like we planned.”

“Easy for you to say!” Rex cried as he dodged and saved his tail from being sliced off. The three toys ran as hard as they could until they found themselves trapped at the far corner of the workfloor.

Rex, Hamm and Slinky hugged each other for protection as the gremlin slowed down and bared his fangs. The toys shut their eyes and the gremlin prepared to strike, only for his path to be cut off by a large boot.

The gremlin leapt backwards in fright as North cracked his knuckles. “That is enough,” North said darkly. “You cause enough trouble.”

The gremlin answered with a hiss as it turned on its heels and ran towards an air vent.

“Tooth! Sandy!” North yelled. “Coming your way!”

The gremlin found his path blocked by a wall of sand. Sandy threw a sand whip to snag him, however, the gremlin sharply turned towards the other air vent. Sandy scowled.

A swarm of fairies swooped in and blocked the gremlin’s path again. The gremlin hissed and dodged as Tooth tossed a net at it. “Missed!” Tooth snapped. “Bunny! You guys are up!”

Bunny dove for the gremlin, but the gremlin knocked over a chair. Bunny crashed into the chair as the gremlin laughed and climbed the shelves.

“Why that little-” Bunny cursed under his breath.

Jessie’s eyes narrowed and held the rope one of the yetis had given her earlier. “Quick! Throw me!” Jessie said as she pointed. “I’ll tie the critter up!”

Bunny looked reluctant, but gave a nod as the gremlin neared the top shelf. “Watch yaself!” he told her as Bunny scooped her off and tossed her like a beanbag. Jessie got her lasso ready as she flew and tied it around the gremlin’s neck as she dropped.

She dangled from the other end of the rope and hung from the shelf in triumph. “Ha! Got the critter-Wait! No, I don’t-”

The gremlin swung Jessie violently with the rope until she spun in a circle. Then the gremlin snapped his teeth into the rope to break it causing Jessie to fly up in the air.

Bunny dashed forward and Jessie plummeted and barely avoided crashing into a cart of toys as he caught her. “Ya, alright, sheila?” Bunny asked.

Jessie panted, but gave a nod. “Yeah, thanks.”

Bunny gave a half smile as he turned his head. “Oi! Potato Head! Ya see him?”

Mr. Potato Head frowned as he looked into his removeable eye that he had placed at the other end of the workfloor. “Yeah, and he’s making a break for the door!”

“Then I’m up!” Jack called and he flew by to race to the other end of the room and blocked the gremlin’s way to the door. Jack shot an ice blast from his staff, but the gremlin leapt out of it’s path.

“Hold still already,” Jack muttered as he attempted to freeze the gremlin with more shots, but the gremlin moved too quickly. Then, the gremlin hissed and tackled directly into Jack’s face. The winter spirit tumbled to the floor as he wrestled to rip the gremlin off his face.

Woody, Bullseye and Buzz came from around the corner and gave each other a nod. Plan B wasn’t working, so it was time for Plan C. The three toys raced out and waved.

“Hey! Ugly!” Woody called.

The gremlin stopped as he was about to claw at Jack’s ear and turned perplexed at the toys.

“Yeah, you!” Woody called again. “Were you born with that face or were you run over by a truck?”

The gremlin’s eyes narrowed and growled.

“No, no, Woody,” Buzz said and made sure to project his voice. “Couldn’t have been a truck, since being run over would have only improved it.”

Bullseye snorted in agreement.

The gremlin bared his teeth as Jack was frantically trying to break free of it’s grip.

“Oh, I just had a thought!” Woody continued. “If he looks like that, imagine what his mother must have looked like? I’ll bet she’s worse!”

The gremlin screeched as it freed Jack and pounced towards them. The toys took their cue to run.

Jack wasted no time and flew ahead of the toys. He landed where North had placed the small cage.

Woody, Bullseye and Buzz came speedily around the corner. “Set the trap! Set the trap!” Woody yelled as the gremlin was rapidly getting closer.

“Brace yourselves!” Jack called as he slammed his staff on the floor. A trail of ice spread out and flowed towards the toys and gremlins like a river. The three toys slipped and slid down the path of ice.

However, the gremlin slipped as well, spinning in circles close behind the toys. Jack held his breath as Woody, Bullseye and Buzz got closer. Then, Jack stuck out his staff and plucked them off the ice with the hook.

The gremlin attempted to hop to catch them, but his claws barely scratched the toys as Woody, Bullseye and Buzz held onto the staff as they were lifted. The gremlin continued to slide and landed head first into the cage. Its face slammed against the bars as the door shut behind it.

Jack held the toys in his arms as he hollered happily. “Yahoo! We got him!”

“Are we sure it’s a ‘him’?” asked Buzz. “We never did ask for gender.”

Woody and Bullseye shook their heads while Jack laughed.

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Once word spread that the gremlin was caught, the yetis seemed overjoyed. According to North, now that they didn’t have to worry about the ‘green menace’ as Bunny called it, it wouldn’t take long for the workshop to get back to normal.

Woody did wonder what was going to happen with the gremlin, but Bunny simply grinned as he held up the cage. “Don’t worry,” he said as the gremlin tried to scratch him through the bars of the cage. “I got the perfect home to place the critter in.”

Part of Woody was tempted to ask where exactly a gremlin could be dropped off that wouldn’t cause trouble to other people. However, considering the amused smirk the Easter Bunny was giving, Woody decided he didn’t want to know.

With North and the yetis scrambling to repair their workshop, the toys were getting prepared to be sent back home. Woody sighed as he looked among the various groups of yetis, until he spotted Buzz as a yeti placed him on a wooden table.

“Thanks a lot!” Buzz said as the yeti waved back before walking off.

“He fix you up, Buzz?” Woody asked as he climbed onto a chair and up on the table.

“I’m in tip top shape, look,” Buzz’s helmet went up with no more scratches from the gremlin’s attack. “He even fixed the joint in my shoulder that’s been bothering me.” He laughed. “These guys really know their stuff.”

Woody patted his shoulder. “We’re getting ready for Jack to take us home,” he looked around. “But I haven’t found Jessie or Bullseye yet.”

“We’re right here!” Jessie called from the floor with Bullseye at her side.

Woody and Buzz jumped to the floor. “Good, then we’re about ready to go - Bullseye what’s that you’re wearing?”

Bullseye beamed, showing off his brand new saddle decorated in bright greens and red. He spun around for Woody and Buzz to see.

“It’s a gift from, North,” Jessie explained as she patted Bullseye. “He wanted to thank him for at least trying to stop the gremlin.”

Woody patted Bullseye’s nose. He still felt bad that they hadn’t listened to Bullseye before, but he was glad the horse was getting some kind of recognition for his work. Woody then frowned and looked to the door that led into North’s office. “So...ah...is he still in there?”

Jessie nodded. “Said something about needing to check a list or something before seeing us off.”

“With that said we’d better check on the others,” Buzz said as he held out his arm for Jessie. “With our luck we’d end up leaving Rex behind or something.”

Woody glanced to the door again. “You three go ahead, there’s something I want to ask first.”

Jessie and Bullseye stared curiously, but Buzz seemed to sense what was on Woody’s mind as he led them away. “Come on guys, let’s go show off Bullseye’s saddle.”

Woody gave Buzz a grateful wave before the approached the door. He paused momentarily as he took a deep breath and opened the door. “Um...Sir, are you there?”

“I am here!” North said as he raised his head from his desk. “Was finishing list of things to fix.” He gave a grin to Woody. “And about ready to send you home.”

“Oh, um..,” Woody said as he fidgeted with his vest. “Before that...um...well if it wasn’t too much trouble.”

North went silent as he took off his glasses. “Was there something you needed, Woody?”

"I um..." Woody stammered, placing his hands behind his back. "I just wondered if I could..." He then gave a shaky smile and turned to leave. "Never mind, it's not important." His hand touched the doorway and he lifted his foot to leave. “I’ll go tell Jack we’re ready to go.”

"You are wanting to read Andy's letter." Woody paused and turned. North stared back with a warm knowing smile like he had been expecting this.

"You still have it?" Woody asked, trying to hide his eagerness.

"Of course!" North replied, stunned at the very notion. "I save all my letters!"

Woody swallowed as he climbed up the chair and onto the desk as North dug a letter out of his file cabinet.

“Here it is,” North said as he gently smoothed out the letter for Woody to look.

It was crinkled and Woody recognized the handwriting belonging to Andy’s mother. She probably wrote it for him since he wasn’t old enough.

Woody began to read the letter.

Dear Santa,

What I would really like for Christmas is a Woody doll. It’s from a show my dad used to watch, but mom says they don’t make them anymore. I have been really good, but if you can’t make one a slinky dog would be okay too.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Love, Andy

Woody stared in awe as he traced his fingers over Andy’s name. “I knew I was a Christmas gift, but I didn’t know he asked for me.”

"He is grown up now, yes?" North asked.

Woody nodded. "He's in his first year of college."

"I am surprised he gave you up to another child," North replied softly. 

"I gave him the idea. It was a group-," Woody shook his head. "No, it was my decision. I knew Andy didn't need me like he used to, and it was important I stayed with Buzz and the others. We're a family."

North gave a thoughtful nod. "I have always thought that toys are just as much Guardians as we are," said North as he smoothed out the letter. "And in some ways you have harder job."

“What do you mean?” Woody asked as he sat with his legs crossed.

“Children will eventually grow up and many stop believing in us,” North held up a finger. “But there are always future children for us to watch and spread joy to. This is not always case for you toys.”

Woody nodded as he thought about Jessie who lost Emily after she grew up. “Yeah, we were lucky to find Bonnie.”

“And she you,” North replied. “You toys are there to provide wonder every day when we guardians can not.” He gave a smile as he leaned back in his chair. “To me, that makes you toys as important as Guardians.”

Woody chuckled softly and gave a blush. “Thanks...and also for, you know, making me.”

“Bah, is what I do,” North said as he stood and picked up Woody. “And with that, time for you to go home to Bonnie before she worries more.”

Woody gave a nod as he stole one more glance at Andy’s letter -one of the best gifts he could ask for.

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Jack landed on the tree branch that hung outside of Bonnie’s window and glanced into the basket. “All right guys, you’re home free.”

Hamm poked his head out of the basket. “Excuse me captain, but I would like to complain about the lack of roasted peanuts on this flight.”

Jack rolled his eyes and chuckled in amusement. “Got the letter ready?”

“Right here!” Jessie said as he held up the letter. “But are ya sure ya don’t want to tell her yourself?”

Jack gave a soft smile. “Naw, I know she’s shy and I don’t want to scare her.” He glanced up to the window and saw where Bonnie lay sleeping in her bed. “It will still be a good memory for her.”

Woody glanced to Bonnie and then back to Jack. “Well, still. Next snowfall, it wouldn’t hurt to say hi. She’s getting a lot braver about meeting new people.” Woody narrowed his eyes. “But please leave my hat alone this time.”

Jack laughed. “I make no promises.” He dropped the basket on the windowsill. “I’ll see you guys around.”

“Goodbye, Jack,” Buzz said as he gave a salute. “If you require us to chase out any more gremlins, let us know.”

“Uh, actually please don’t,” said Mr. Potato Head. “The one experience was more than enough for my nightmares.”

Jack laughed and then shushed them before he tapped on the window glass. As planned, it was loud enough to wake Bonnie. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and glanced in Jack’s direction.

“Huh?” she muttered.

At that point, Jack flew up and landed on the top of the chimney so he could still watch. The toys went limp as Bonnie opened the window and gasped.

“My toys!” she cried and grouped every single toy into a hug. “Where have you guys been?!” she scolded firmly. “I was worried sick!” Bonnie then stared curiously at the letter. Jack grinned as he watched Bonnie reach for the letter. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

“Mommy! Mommy!” she exclaimed excitedly as she ran inside.

Jack laughed and called the wind to take him back to the North Pole. It was time for him to go back to his family too.

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“Mommy! Daddy!” Bonnie cried as she ran into her parents’ room.

Her father woke with a yawn and he turned on the lamp. “Something wrong, Sweetheart?”

“I found my toys!” she exclaimed happily and she lifted the basket. “See!”

“Oh, that’s fantastic, sweetie,” her mother said. “But you shouldn’t be up this late-”

“But I got a letter,” Bonnie continued as she climbed onto the bed. “It was in the basket.”

“Let me see that, kiddo,” her father said as he unfolded it and read aloud. “It says, found your toys so I thought I better bring them home. Let’s play again sometime. Merry Christmas, Jack Frost.”

Bonnie’s jaw dropped. “Jack Frost found my toys?”

“It looks that way,” her mother said as she took the letter and read it over herself. “Tomorrow, maybe you should make a snowman to thank him.”

“Yeah!” Bonnie beamed. “Can I leave cookies for him too?”

“We’ll see,” his father said with a laugh. “But you should go and get some sleep first.” Her father kissed her forehead. “So, back to bed with you.”

Bonnie giggled as she took the basket and scampered back to her room. Her parents chuckled as they watched her run off. Once she was out of sight, Bonnie’s mother kissed her husband.

“You are so sweet, writing that letter to make her believe Jack Frost was real.”

Bonnie’s father stopped laughing and gave her a blank look. “Me? Honey, I thought you wrote that.”

Bonnie’s mother stared wide eyed and they glanced to the light snowfall that they could see from their window.

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At that same moment, Pitch stared puzzled at the box that had fallen into his pit. However, upon reading the tag he scoffed. “Merry Christmas, from the Guardians.”

Pitch rolled his eyes as he lifted the box lid. “Oh, please, and I suppose North put coal in here because I was naughty-” The gremlin jumped out of the box and tackled Pitch’s face. 

From above the pit, Bunny chuckled as he heard Pitch cry “No! You stupid- GET OFF OF ME THIS INSTANT!”

Bunny grinned evilly. “That was for Easter,” he said and thumped his foot to get back to the pole.

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“The toys are safe and sound at home,” Jack said as North greeted him at the runway. “And, I might add, I’m Bonnie’s favorite now.”

North laughed as he patted Jack’s shoulder. “That is good boy, good job.” Then, much to Jack’s surprise, North frowned. “And I am sorry.”

“For what?” Jack asked as they walked inside.

North waved a hand into the air. “I had wanted Christmas party to be extra special for you,” he looked to Jack with a guilty look. “To make up for all past Christmases alone, but instead I drag you into mess and we will not be having whole party until tomorrow.”

Now Jack understood. Thanks to the damage the gremlin had caused, all the machines wouldn’t be fully functioning until tomorrow. So, the Guardians had decided to spend the night at North’s and then have their annual Christmas party tomorrow.

Jack grinned. “For the record North, just having you guys to spend Christmas with makes up for it.” He then gave a smirk. “And are you kidding? Today was a blast, we got to go gremlin hunting! I’ve hadn’t had that much fun on Christmas for a long time.”

That comment seemed to do the trick and Jack saw North’s face light up. “Yes, will admit, was much fun.” He stroked his beard as they entered the main hall. “Perhaps, next year we borrow Woody and toys and go troll hunting.”

“Let’s not,” Bunny said dryly while Sandy stood amused. “Please, I’d rather not make that a new tradition.”

Jack smirked. “Ah, come on, Bunny I bet-”

“Ah hem.”

The boys turned to Tooth who was finishing clearing her throat and smile gleefully. “Speaking of bets, I believe we had one earlier and according to my numbers I did get the most toys.”

Bunny, North, Sandy and Jack’s eyes widened as they realized that Tooth was correct and their fate now lay in her hands.

Tooth grinned rather evilly. “And I have the perfect song for you.”

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Tooth sat pleased in her seat and gladly accepted the glass of eggnog an elf was offering. It had taken a while, but eventually the yetis had fixed the kitchen and dinner had gone without a hitch. They still hadn’t done their exchange of presents, but they decided it was better to save it for the next day after the long day they had had.

Tooth sipped the eggnog as her fairies got comfortable on the cushions the yetis had provided them for the show.

“Fellas,” she called sweetly. “We’re all waiting for you.”

They heard Bunny sighed from behind the large curtain. “Do we REALLY need to do this?!”

“A bet is a bet,” Tooth said as she shook a finger. “And I did win it.”

“Funny, I don’t recall you saying you were taking part in it,” Jack said.

“Fair is fair,” North said. “We all gave word.”

“Fine!” Bunny grumbled as he poked his head out. “But Tooth does it have to be THAT song! These outfits are bad enough.”

“I won, my choice,” Tooth said with an evil grin. “And you’re not getting out of this.”

Jack tugged Bunny back behind the curtain. “Come on, Cottontail. Let’s get this over with.”

Tooth then gave a nod to Phil who yanked the rope that pulled back the curtain. Bunny, North, Sandy and Jack stood in the center each wearing a red and green elf outfit as promised. The fairies squealed in glee as Jack shook his boots the made his bells jingle.

“Should I be concerned with how long the elves have had these outfits?” Jack asked.

Sandy gave a shrug, but then Tooth rolled her hand. “Come on guys, you know what comes next.”

The group exchanged a looked and gave a sigh. Sandy started to create images to go along with the lyrics as they sang. “Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree! For me!”

Some of the fairies gave a swoon as Tooth giggled. “This is the best Christmas ever!”

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Meanwhile back at Bonnie’s house, all of the toys were happily tucked into bed along with Bonnie. Being so relieved to get her toys back Bonnie had insisted all her toys sleep with her tonight.

Woody was contently tucked under Bonnie’s arm alongside Bullseye to his left and Jessie and Buzz on his right. Woody raised his head to the other toys that were scattered across the bed sound asleep. “Merry Christmas, guys,” Woody muttered as he shut his eyes and happily went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of this story, I hope you guys have enjoyed this and have a Happy Holiday!


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